Not to be confused with more than one
marching band, a
Marching Bands is a
crossword puzzle variant.
In a Marching Bands, words read in two directions: across and around. The across entries consist of two entries in each row, whose dividing point is to be determined except in the center row where there is a black square.
The around entries consist of several words in each of the alternately-shaded concentric bands. The entries for each band start in a marked square (usually along the diagonal from the upper left corner to the center), but the divisions between entries are to be determined.