Happy Sunday.
Hope everyone is enjoying the last days of summer as we prepare to cross over to fall. Quite literally the last day for me, as the semester spans mid-August to mid-December, and I start teaching tomorrow. Anyway, I hope you manage to connect with the overarching concept of this one.
This puzzle started as something rather different, which didn't really quite work. Fortunately,
Abide came to the rescue and suggested a significant re-work which produced the version you see here. Many thanks to him for the idea, and to both him and
Wendy Walker for test solving the original version. And as usual thanks to Joe Ross for tech support.
This one might play a little harder than the last, but fear not, nudges later today. And I am of course always available via PM for additional help. Reveal on Saturday.
UPDATE: Sincere apologies, but due to me being a dolt the initial version of this puzzle was missing asterisks in 5 of the across clues. They should be there now, so you might consider that Nudge 0 if you want to take another look. If you'd prefer to move right to the real nudges, here you go:
That intro seems a little rambling, no? Do you see any links between some of the words in the first paragraph?
The grid contains five symmetric entries (now with asterisks!) that might be clued using the same word.
What overarching concept connects two places by spanning the gap between them, allowing you to cross over from one to the other?
OK, we found the bridges, now look at the title again.
If you were hiding under a bridge, the safest place is probably right in the middle.