Themeless corner: how to fill open space

[ktd]

Hi all,

I am trying to put together a 15x15 themeless puzzle and I've run into a snag. After completing the middle (where I started with a 15-letter entry across) I went into the NW and made out OK using stacked 7- and 8 letter answers intersecting across and down at the edge. This leaves my NE and SW as open areas. The NE is as follows: 1D, 2D, 3D, 4D six letters, 5D 9 letters, 6D four letters, 7D 3 letters (from top to bottom, the across answers are 7, 7, 7, 6, 5. The next Across answer below the 5-letter space is 8 letters and has been filled). 5D also has 3 letters in place, but not in the NE quadrant. I can't seem to get the area filled, despite having an Across answer to build off of, and being able to come up with several entries for 5D. If you have followed me thus far, do you have suggestions? Is it better to start with Down answers in this case, or Across? Shoudl 5D be filled in first, or left open as long as possible? Does it matter? Any advice is welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Cheers
ktd

[Doorbell]

This is such an open-ended question that it's hard to answer.  The only rule of thumb I follow is to start with the hardest spot in the puzzle first.  If I'm visualizing your puzzle correctly, this would probably be where the 9-letter down entry crosses the 15-letter across entry.  So I would want to fill in the 9-letter entry first.

But remember, not all grids are fillable (or at least, not fillable with a good fill).  Your grid may just have too many long intersecting words to work.  If you have a tool such as CrosswordCompiler, try filling in the 15-letter word and see if CCW can come up with a solution using AutoFill.  If it can't find a solution, you might have to rework the grid.