elementary, my dear watson

 hiiii

i think if you like, squint and blur your eyes and also use your imagination a little this puzzle has accidental grid art of 21-across. funky 9x18 shape because i just cannot resist a rectangle with horizontal symmetry

this puzzle is dedicated to my friend sierra, for no reason other than she loves sherlock (which is not actually represented in the puzzle, whoops) and i love her! she's great <3 

happy state testing week! today (and yesterday, and upcoming on thursday and friday) i have to do standardized tests (boo hiss). i ended up playing a couple fondly remembered elementary school games with the girl next to me and i was like "hey i could make a crossword out of that" and then i had MORE thoughts about being a kid that fit in and i was like "hey that's pretty cool" and then this baddie came together pretty quickly! hope you enjoy!

test solved by gwen (my sister)! no plug for her other than to swing by my twitch where we regularly devolve into chaos

.jpz / full screen solve

for those of you who dare venture below the cut, i bestow upon you: a picture of my cat, terra, as blake lively