Today I woke up with a potential theme in my head. Four symmetrical answers came to me so quickly that I didn't have time to search and see if the theme had been done before. Be damned if it HAD already been done—recently, nonetheless (early June, 2019, in Universal Crossword)! My answers are different, but the idea has now been done and this brings up the broader question: is there any hope in submitting to any publisher a puzzle with a theme that's been done before? My gut tells me no one will want it, but I don't have enough experience with crossword publishing to know.
Any thoughts are appreciated!