[sunburnt63]

Here is my theme with some possible clues

Suggestion at the Scottish Highland Games?    TRY THE CABER(11)
Community involvement?    SOCIAL WORK(10)
Bullies, perhaps?    NATURAL BRUTES(13)
Where Harry Potter plays Quidditch?    MAGIC FIELD(10)
Grateful Dead live album, and a hint to the theme answers WITHOUT A NET(11)

Is this a fun and entertaining theme? Any suggestions on changing clues or anything like that would be helpful. I also had FISH STOCKINGS (13) but the puzzle would be a little crowded with that as well. Thanks for the input.

[colincorgi]

The theme idea/revealer is good, and NATURAL BRUTES is probably my favorite of the lot. I think an editor would have problems with two of the other theme answers though. Unless I'm missing some reference, TRY THE CABERNET isn't a stand-alone phrase, and CABER is pretty obscure. SOCIAL WORK is already a real phrase on its own, so probably wouldn't be allowed. I'd suggest replacing those two answers.

[sonofagun]

I'm with colin on this. TRY THE CABERNET has got to go. It's just a made-up phrase. SOCIAL WORK and SOCIAL NETWORK is not a very clever jump and both pretty dull.

The title of a Greatful Dead album is a real iffy entry. Very obscure. I'd scrap it and replace it with NET LOSS in the grid's center.

Good theme idea.

[sunburnt63]

Yes I agree that the WITHOUT A NET entry is a little obscure. I originally thought of it because I thought the phrase "without a net" meant one was living dangerously (like a trapeze artist or tight roper walker without a net). Since this doesn't seem to be the case, what about the following as the new entries:

MAGIC WAVE (9)
FISH STOCKINGS (13)
NET LOSS (7)
NATURAL BRUTES(13)
HER REALMS (9)

Please let me know what you think of this, and thanks for the input so far!

[sonofagun]

Sunburn, are you familiar with OneLook Dictionary Search? (you only have to enter onelook). You can type in net* and you'll get all the words that start with net. *net gives all the words that end in net. There's other options as well. Enter ??net?? to see if there's a 7 letter word with net in the center.

I think NETHER REALMS has got to go.

[Doorbell]

To me, the entry WITHOUTANET is very good, and works better than NETLOSS.  But clue it as "Living dangerously, and a hint to the theme answers"; drop the Living Dead reference.