Words: 28 (9×9)
Average Length: 5.00
The two top row entries were the seeds (so to speak). My favorite clue, though, is 21 Across.
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Author: Jeff
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Themeless 88
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Darn Head Pin
Words: 10 (5×5)
Average Length: 5.00
Way back in high school, I used to go bowling every weekend, reaching a greater level of success than in any other sport (it’s a low hurdle indeed). I had my share of 1 Acrosses, but got pretty good at converting the smaller ones. Difficulty-wise, I’d put today’s puzzle in the category of knocking down the 10-pin for a spare: quite doable but not a slam dunk, to mix sporting metaphors. (Dunking a bowling ball is not recommended.)
Words: 48 (12×12)
Average Length: 5.08
“Before and After” is a time-honored Jeopardy category. This puzzle introduces a twist, as the clue to 17 Across explains: the last word of 17A and the first word of 31A together satisfy a part of the clue. I hope you like it – I have another puzzle in this vein coming up in a few weeks.
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Without Excuses
Here’s a different kind of mini for you. I think it should play on the easy side.
As sometimes happens, the Daily Crossword Links email missed the puzzle I posted Sunday (Themeless 87). Here’s a link to that puzzle if you’d like to solve it (and I sure hope you will!).
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Themeless 87
Words: 72
Average Length: 5.28
When cluing answers that are phrases (20A and 47A in this case), I always wonder how other constructors might clue them. I guess it’s another way of considering whether common phrases really do mean the same thing to everyone.
Other than semantic speculation, I’ll just add that (1) 26A is a really cool factoid, and (2) 42D is based on repeated personal experience.
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Make It Big
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Keep ‘Em Separated
Words: 76
Average Length: 4.71
Word ladder puzzles have been around forever, but somehow, this is the first one I’ve ever constructed. It’s also a pangram, with help from 9 Down and 21 Across. Enjoy!
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APR, Fools
Words: 18 (7×7)
Average Length: 5.00
Once I had 1 and 16 Across in place, the rest of the puzzle (including the title) came readily. 14 Down is the type of junk fill I try to avoid, but I figured I’d own it here by tying it to the photo. If you’re a train enthusiast, a Thomas the Tank Engine fan (or parent thereof), or just love riding in comfort through beautiful scenery, the Isle of Man is fantastic. It’s an easy hop from Ireland, England, and Scotland and worth spending a couple of days. Here are two posts (1 and 2) I wrote about a weekend visit.
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Themeless 86
Words: 72
Average Length: 5.25
This puzzle had several seeds: 23 Across (I’d recently listened to CSNY’s “Almost Cut My Hair”), 4 Down (I’d recently listened to Men at Work’s “Down Under”), and 55 Across, a term I learned not from a song – though it would make for an interesting lyric – but from a police officer/driver ed instructor. (No, I was not in “traffic school!”)
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