
Words: 77 (13×17)
Average Length: 5.06
This is my 500th puzzle since starting this blog in April 2021! Two hundred eighty-four of those have been full-sized (15×15 or larger): 132 themeless and 152 themed. One hundred forty-two have been minis (including 34 Mostly Musical Minis and 4 Cryptics), and the remaining 74 have been midis. I’ve had 31,000 visitors (72,000 views) from over 100 countries. My heartfelt thanks to all of you!
This is my first full-sized puzzle that isn’t symmetrical – I figure once every 500 puzzles or so that’s OK, so don’t rat me out to the crossword cops! As with many of my themed puzzles, this one is food-focused (my second-most fertile source of inspiration after music). The four seeds, 36A, 54A, 13D, and 32D, are all inspired/ridiculous food-related puns, and it a lot of the fill concerns food as well. I must have been feeling a bit peckish while constructing, not to mention puckish while cluing!
Again, thanks so much for solving! I have many more visitors each week than I do subscribers, so if you like my puzzles please follow my site – my understanding is that having more followers enhances search visibility, but as far as I know, SEO could stand for Sorcerers, Enchantments, and Oracles.
One reply on “P(f)un With Food”
Congratulations on #500, Jeff! (I hope I can hit that mark myself someday). Your site has been one of my favorite discoveries of the last year or so. Seeing “Jeff’s Puzzles” in my inbox is always an invitation for some fun.
Speaking of which, this was such a fun solve. I loved your four seed entries and their clues. Other favorite clues were 14A, 17A, 34A, 50A, 21D and 51D. For 50A, I didn’t initially pick up on the humor; I thought, “What kind of straw poll asks a question with straight as one of the answer options?!” The other foot dropped when the answer filled in, and then I noticed the ‘?’ in your clue. 😊
I’m going to add 63A to my list of theme answers in case I do a second round of “When Stars Collide”!
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