Author: Jeff

Categories
Themeless

Themeless 135 b/w Let’s Do the Time Warp Again

Mother and baby baboons, Lake Manyara, Tanzania (Aug. 2026). Nothing to do with the puzzles.

Themeless 135:

Words: 77 (16×15)

Average Length: 5.25

Whoops – one of the seeds for this puzzle, 25 Across, was also a seed in a themeless puzzle I posted several weeks ago.  (The other seeds were 6 Down and 33 Down.) I somehow forgot that I’d already used it.  If your memory is better than mine – and I sure hope it is – you should have a head start.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Let’s Do the Time Warp Again:

Words: 7 (4×3)

Average Length: 3.43

Yesterday, a fellow cruciverbalist, Moose Dixon, posted a terrific Tim Curry tribute puzzle, which you can solve here. After completing it, I dashed off this micro-puzzle, entitled “Let’s Do the Time Warp Again”. Here are links to the online and AcrossLite versions. I didn’t do a pdf, but you can print the .puz file if you like solving on paper.

online | puz

Categories
Travel Midi

Travel Midi 6 – Safari

Cape Buffalo, Masai Mara, Aug. 2026

Words: 44 (11×11)

Average Length: 4.73

Today’s puzzle focuses on stuff I learned or saw on my recent safari.  I hope you enjoy it!

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Themed

More Anagrams on the Side

Mother and baby elephant, Amboseli National Park, Kenya (photo taken Aug. 2026) Nothing to do with the puzzle; everything to do with an amazing safari I just took – see the last part of this post.

Words: 62 (17×11)

Average Length: 5.03

After I posted “I’ll Have Anagrams on the Side” a few weeks ago, I began wondering how many anagrams of a single word I could reasonably include in  a similar puzzle.  The answer, it turns out, is five. 

In today’s puzzle, the five edge answers in the top half of the puzzle are anagrams of one another.  Likewise, the five edge answers in the bottom half of the puzzle are anagrams of one another.  The clues for the five edge answers in the top half are presented in random order at 1 Across; likewise, the clues for the five edge answers in the bottom half are presented in random order at 33 Down.  Solvers must determine which version of the anagram goes in which answer.

online | puz | pdf | solution

*** *** ***

I just returned from a terrific trip through East Africa.  I’m including links below to my blog posts about the trip, which are filled with pictures and hopefully interesting commentary.  Please check them out if you’re interested!

Addis Ababa

Nairobi

Amboseli, Part 1

Amboseli, Part 2

Lake Manyara, Tanzania

Ngorongoro Crater

Serengeti, Part 1

Serengeti – Masai Mara

Masai Mara, Part 1

Masai Mara, Part 2

East Africa Trip Wrap-up

Categories
Themed

I’ll Have Anagrams on the Side

Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires (see 19 Across). Photo taken February 2026.

Words: 78

Average Length: 4.79

Word nerd that I am, I love anagrams.  So much so, in fact, that I decided that each edge of this puzzle should be populated by three anagrams.  The first answer of each triplet has three clues; the solver has to determine which clue applies to which member of the triplet.  (I think it’s actually easier to do than to explain, but just in case it’s not, I toned down the difficulty level for the rest of the fill.)

Many thanks to Jeanne Breen (find her wonderful word puzzles on her blog, In Pursuit of Puzzles) for taking a look at an earlier draft and assuring me the concept is not too annoying!

I leave tomorrow for 17 days in Africa:  two days in Addis Ababa followed by a two week safari with Odysseys Unlimited through the major nature preserves in Kenya and Tanzania.  I’m going to take a break from posting puzzles until I return, but in the meantime, please follow my adventures on my travel blog, www.PuffinlessTravel.com.  I promise there will be lots of photos of charismatic megafauna!

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Midi Music Themed

Crickets

The title insects – and also the name of 10 Down / 27 Down’s band – for sale by the seasoned scoop at Wat Chai Thararam, Phuket, Thailand. Photo taken Jan. 2020. (I opted for ice cream instead on a 98 degree day. Of course, I would have done so on an 8 degree day as well.)

Words: 43 (11×11)

Average Length: 4.79

The idea for this puzzle came from a book I just finished, Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead, by Dennis McNally.  There’s a particular song (8 Down) that the Dead covered in live performances more than 500 times, and I thought the title of the song lent itself to a midi grid.

Alas, the only way I could make the concept work was for the first seed entry (1 Across) to be an obscure French artist.  I’d never heard of him, and I’d guess that very few of you have either.   But the crosses should help with 1 Across, and once the concept becomes apparent, the answer should fall into place easily.  (To help the concept become apparent, the online version includes some shaded cells, but the circles should work just as well, if less colorfully.)

There’s an additional hint in the solving note, which references my original entry at 1 Across – a very similar word that’s a bit more widely known but spoiled the purity of the concept.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Cryptic Mini

Pert Butt Cracks Up Little Seymour

See 3 Down. Photo taken January 2024

Words: 10 (5×5)

Average Length: 5.00

I’ve now constructed a handful of cryptic crosswords.  I’m still not sure whether I’m following all the rules, but I’m pleased with the way this puzzle turned out.  Any tips/corrections/comments would be greatly appreciated! 

Not to fear, non-cryptic solvers – I’ll post an American-style midi in a couple of days.

Keep scrolling down for an explanation of the answers.

online | puz | pdf | solution

See 3 Down. Photo taken January 2024

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ * * * * * * * * _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ * * * * * * * * _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

1A: Anagram of spare

6A: Answer dangles and coats the throat when talking

7A: Answer contained within “amid a swamp”

8A: Homophone pair: baits/bates

9A: Anagram of nasty

1D: Spirit (rum) + degree (BA)

2D: Naïve read bottom to top

3D: Sydney (Australia) note = AUD + it

4D: Pun

5D: Butt (ass) contained within little Seymour (SY)

Categories
Themeless

Themeless 134

See 26 Across. Photo taken in Puerto Montt, Chile, Mar. 2026.

Words: 70

Average Length: 5.46

The three seeds for today’s puzzle came from diametrically opposed ends of the TV viewing spectrum.  26 Across and 15 Down were answers on “Jeopardy!” several months ago and duly entered my spreadsheet of stuff I want to put in a crossword.   3 Down was being played one afternoon on a favored show of my three-year old granddaughter, “Spidey and His Amazing Friends.”

A note on 57 Across: the composer in the answer got the nickname “Papa” because he was adored by the musicians who worked for him.  He had no legitimate children of his own; there is debate whether he fathered an illegitimate child with a mistress.  (Now you’re caught up on gossip from the 18th century!)

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Midi

On Balance

See 5 Down (not a Picasso, although he is reported to have said “We have invented nothing” after seeing cave art first hand.) Photo taken at neo-Altamira, April 2023.

Words: 40 (11×11)

Average Length: 5.05

The seeds for today’s puzzle were 1 Across and 6 Across, after which I had fun playing around with different uses of “scale.”  I’m also happy to include my one of my very favorite female rock singers at 14 Across.  Here’s a video of her singing a great John Prine song, “Angel from Montgomery.”

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Themed

Trainspotting

Photo taken on the Isle of Man, July 2022

Words: 75

Average Length: 4.85

Today’s puzzle is straightforward, so I’ll devote the write-up to two musical links.  The first, “Girlfriend Is Better” (see 17 Across) is from the Talking Heads. I saw the movie in 17 Across half a dozen times after it came out.  The second, Chick Corea’s brilliant “Spain,” features Bill Watrous on 3 Down, along with Hubert Laws on flute, George Benson on guitar, Stanley Clarke on bass, Lenny White on drums, and Corea on keyboards.  Please listen to the whole thing – if you’re like me, it’ll energize you face for hours – but definitely check out Watrous’s solo (its starts at 2:42) if you want to be amazed at what can be done with a 3 Down.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Mini To and Fro

To and Fro 2

Nothing to do with the puzzle – a rainbow at Iguassu Falls. Photo taken Feb. 2026.

Words: 8 (4×4)

Average Length: 4.00

When I posted the first To and Fro puzzle a couple of weeks ago, I kvetched at length about what a construction challenge it was.  Then my second attempt came together pretty quickly, though I did spend an hour or so trying to improve 1D – to no avail, as you’ll see.  Perhaps 4D will make up for it.

online | puz | pdf | solution