Words: 72
Average Length: 5.14
Like many crossword constructors and solvers, I’m a religious “Jeopardy!” watcher. If you are, too, then you’ll know the title of this puzzle is a frequent category on the show. I thought I’d try my hand at a grid built around four triple rhyme time clues. No need to phrase your answers in the form of a question!
Words: 14 (7×7)
Average Length: 5.29
2 Down was the seed for this puzzle. When I filled the rest of the grid, I put in 4 Across and immediately thought of the song in the clue – a couple of hours before the news broke of Tim Curry’s death. Doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo (that’s Twilight Zone music).
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.
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.
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.
*** *** ***
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!
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!
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.
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.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ * * * * * * * * _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ * * * * * * * * _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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)
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!)
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.”
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