Words: 10 (5×5)
Average Length: 4.20
I haven’t seen a puzzle like this before, although I’m sure the concept exists. Think of each half of the clue as a circle in a Venn diagram; the answer is found in the intersection between the two circles. It may be a shared trait or name, a constituent part of each category, a word associated with both “circles” but meaning different things in each context, or some other common ground.
Explanation/spoilers below:
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1A: FLEA is the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist, and a flea is common parasite
5A: BRAND is a ranch “dressing,” or decoration, and Hidden Valley is a common brand of ranch dressing
6A: LINDA Rondstadt sang Blue Bayou (as did Roy Orbison, but he doesn’t fit), and Linda Blair starred in The Exorcist
7A: UTEs is the name both of an indigenous American people and a common shortening of “utility” for vehicles.
8A: EOS is a Canon camera and the Greek goddess of the dawn
1D: FRITO means fried in Spanish; a chimichanga is fried – and of course Frito is an iconic corn chip
2D: LANES are found in both highways and bowling alleys
3D: ENDS – a line segment has 2 ends, and codas are the ends of musical pieces
4D: ADA Lovelace is regarded by some as an early computer programmer, and the ADA is the professional organization of dentists
5D: BLUE is component of both Green (with yellow) and Purple (with red)
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