Hah great puzzle Joah! I totally gave up on COLON and HYPHEN since I didn't know the movie - didn't get the joke until I finished solving!

Congratulations! This was very amusing--in a good way.

Out of Character

The crossing of 9-across and 3-down is a bit unfortunate, but they're technically >!two different words: its and it's!<. Hope the rest of the puzzle was enjoyable!

That didn't bother me one bit! Didn't even notice

Ah, *on the side of*!! I could not figure that out - no more solving before coffee. Great puzzle Joah!

On Guard!

Couldn't fit in a revealer, but hopefully you'll be able to figure out the theme from the note.

Nice one! I had *INDEPENDENCEDAY* in my head as the Will Smith film and kept trying to figure out how to fit that into 5 squares 🤣.

BLACK BEARD was the giveaway, though. Great puzzle!

INDEPENDENCE DAY would be a solid 15-letter answer. Now what could the rest of the theme be... FREE WILLY? 😂

Fun puzzle. Had PITCH without thinking I needed <BLACK>. It wasn’t until I got to <BLACK>BEARD that I realized BOzO was wrong (and what z?RRY should be).

Inked In

Another fun one! Tricky theme but nice once I got it!

Thrown for a Loop

What a superb design & theme! Nice one, Joah!

Fun grid design. Had some trouble with the non-theme clues (ZIPPER was a quick fill but I expected to see a 4D clue, like [Best type of traffic merge])

Yeah unfortunately it wouldn't let me clue 4-down because it's technically only one letter. Which was good because otherwise I would have had blank clues for 11-down and 15-down.

Merge

I like the mini theme! And the ALIEN / Neil A connection is good 😂

Mini Mini

The black square in the middle might mess up the grid art, but hopefully you enjoy the theme!

It DOES add up!

This is a heck of a fun puzzle. Really really enjoyed it!

Nicely done, liked the simple theme and how it informed the grid shape

The Long Haul

Eat Too Much and You'll Falafel

This puzzle has a little trick in it, but hopefully you'll be able to figure it out with the clue in the title.

Took me a while to get the trick (gotta read the titles more carefully!). But loved it once I did!

If anyone's still confused, the gray answers are the phrases >!REVERSE ENGINEER!< and >!REVERSE MORTGAGE!< taken literally.

Plan for the elderly...... I dunno about that one....

Ok ok I get it but reengine was cool bc it sort of worked both ways!!!

Joah The Protozoa

@Joah