CREATURE DISCOMFORTS
by Tony Delgado, Dan Katz, and Mike Selinker
Solution: TRAGEDIENNE
The diagramless is a standard 17x22 crossword, with the extra gimmick that twelve squares contain the word IMP (the tiny demons described in the flavortext). The completed grid is below:
A | K | A | ||||||||||||||
E | R | T | L | |||||||||||||
L | B | A | R | F | A | R | E | A | S | T | ||||||
IMP | E | D | E | M | U | G | S | H | O | T | ||||||
A | D | O | B | E | D | E | S | A | R | I | O | |||||
IMP | R | O | V | I | S | E | IMP | L | Y | |||||||
L | E | X | I | C | O | N | B | E | G | |||||||
H | E | D | L | O | X | J | E | D | I | |||||||
T | S | E | F | L | A | I | R | |||||||||
W | IMP | Y | C | O | L | O | N | E | L | B | L | IMP | ||||
A | S | L | M | O | F | O | E | E | E | |||||||
O | O | P | IMP | A | R | T | IMP | H | A | L | ||||||
N | O | R | L | E | N | L | I | D | ||||||||
S | K | IMP | O | N | E | M | A | P | ||||||||
D | A | L | E | K | S | O | N | |||||||||
E | D | I | N | A | IMP | O | T | |||||||||
E | P | S | A | Z | T | L | E | S | ||||||||
G | A | L | W | E | D | |||||||||||
S | T | IMP | Y | A | H | L | ||||||||||
A | P | P | T | A | Z | L | IMP | I | N | |||||||
G | IMP | O | O | L | E | D | E | F | Y | |||||||
O | S | T | N | E | D | O | R | E | M |
Second, based on the description of the "dark organisms" in the Petri dish and the hint in the clue for 55-Down (SIMPLE LIFE), you need to run the simulation Life on the grid, using the black squares as "live" cells and the 17x22 rectangle as a bounded domain (since the flavortext says the organisms don't grow outside the dish). If you iterate the simulation until it stabilizes, you get a group of six (including two black squares), a group of three which oscillates between two positions containing the same letters, and a group of four. The letters in those positions, red in the above grid, spell TRAGEDIENNE, the puzzle's answer.