THUNDERBIRDS is fun, and seeing LIGHTNING BUGS is always a highlight of visiting my in-laws in Indiana. I enjoyed the fresh phrases Kyra chose, CLOUD STORAGE a modern term. I will continue to work to make my puzzles as inclusive and respectful as possible in the future, and I'm very grateful to the constructors on Crossword Twitter and the Crosscord Discord channel who have spoken out about the importance of using inclusive language in puzzles. I think these words make light of serious issues and that including them worsens the solving experience. Unfortunately, that meant that this puzzle does contain some language (namely 12- and 28-down) which I would no longer feel comfortable including if I had written this puzzle today.

Since I originally submitted this puzzle, I've done a lot of work to edit my wordlist and make sure that the fill in my grid is inclusive and respectful to everyone. Regretfully, this meant I couldn't find a way to include any phrases that started with 'rain,' which I think is the most obvious omission, but I'm still happy with the way the theme worked out. I'm not sure how noticeable that will actually be during the solve, but it was fun for me to have an additional constraint in choosing a theme set and laying out the grid.

I'm so thrilled to be making my solo NYT debut (despite this being my fourth byline this year)! I love when my themes have multiple layers to them, so in addition to having the weather-related words at the beginning of this puzzle's theme entries, I also tried to make them appear in the order they would actually happen during a storm.

Alternative to dropbox nyt crossword