Author: Jeff

Categories
Themeless

Themeless 130

Trail up the slope of 31A. Photo taken Oct. 2024.

Words: 62 (17×12)

Average Length: 5.56

The two seeds for this puzzle, 26A and 5D, originally were intended to seed a themed puzzle, but I couldn’t come up with two other good theme answers and a revealer.  Instead, they anchor this themeless, which I think should play on the challenging side. 

If you’re interested, here’s a link to the Wikipedia page for 47A.  She was a distinguished mathematician/astronomer/philosopher and counselor to the political leadership of 4th century Alexandria, who met a violent end at the hands of a Christian mob.

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Categories
Midi Themed

In A Pickle

Sunset on the Nile (nothing to do with the puzzle) Nov. 2025

Words: 38 (11×11)

Average Length: 5.42

14A was the seed for today’s midi.  I couldn’t come up with any other decent pickle-related puns, so I went with 26A and 6D to round out the theme set.

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Categories
Themed

Yes I Can

See 64 Across. Photo taken in Krakow, Poland, May 2026

Words: 76 (14×16)

Average Length: 4.79

I’d had the idea for this puzzle for ages, but the construction turned into more of a challenge than I expected.  I even had an entirely different puzzle with the same theme ready to go, but I wasn’t happy with it and decided to start over.

I’m a sucker for unusual time signatures, and 11D fits the bill:  it’s one of only two rock songs I know of that’s predominantly in 7/4.  (The other is “Solsbury Hill,” by Peter Gabriel; the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” alternates between 7/4 and 4/4.)

19A is something my mother used to say.  She had other precipitation-related expressions as well: if it was raining while the sun was shining, she’d say “las brujas bailan” – “the witches are dancing” – an expression she picked up during her childhood in Puerto Rico.

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Categories
Mini

From Start to Finish

Nothing to do with the puzzle – baritone sax hanging in the window of the Berlin Musical Instruments Museum (May 2026)

Words: 16 (7×7)

Average Length: 4.88

I constructed this one as an exercise:  I wanted to make a mini puzzle starting with 1D and ending with 12D.  As exercises go, it turned out to be of the not-exactly-breaking-a-sweat variety: to my surprise, filling the grid only took a half hour or so after I’d settled on a grid shape.

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Categories
Themeless

Themeless 129

Nothing to do with the puzzle: the Berlin TV Tower, reflected in the windows of an adjacent building. Photo taken May 2026.

Words: 73 (16×15)

Average Length: 5.37

I’m posting this a day earlier than usual because I’m heading out of town to celebrate my niece’s wedding.  Congratulations, 13A and Marco!!!

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Categories
Mini Themeless

Conventionally Identifying Seabird Holds Water

Photo taken last week (Rockville, MD) while throwing rocks into a stream with my granddaughter

Words: 16

Average Length: 5.00

The seeds for this puzzle were the title clue (used in 5D), which came to me out of the blue the other day, and 8A, which I learned from a Norwegian gentleman a few weeks ago. The title clue is cryptic. If you solve the online version, there’s a conventional clue you can reveal. Otherwise, here’s the conventional clue in retrograde: rotcelloc niar.

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Categories
Supersized Themed

Grammar Got Run Over By a Pun, Dear

See 62 Down. Photo taken in Senegal, Dec. 2022.

Words: 81 (17×15)

Average Length: 5.14

I’d had the clue for 20A in my list of ideas for a while.  I decided to try coming up with two other grammar-related answers/punny clues, which turned into 36A and 56A.  Having said that, my favorite answer/clue combination is 64A – it’s not a pun but it’s a pretty fiendish misdirect!

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Categories
Themeless

Themeless 128

Neo-Altamira, April 2023. See 3 Down.

Words: 72

Average Length: 5.25

Here’s a challenging themeless with a bit of everything: science, religion, archeology, baseball, and of course, music.  I’m posting this from Berlin, Germany, where I’m finishing up a sometimes disturbing but ultimately inspirational trip that included Copenhagen, Warsaw, Krakow, Prague, Dresden, and Wittenburg, among other places.  I’ve written about the trip and posted lots of photos on my travel blog.  Please take a look if you’re interested.

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Categories
Themeless

Themeless 127

Not 1 Down – Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn, Estonia (photo taken 2013), but you get the idea

Words: 72

Average Length: 5.31

The seeds for today’s puzzle were 20A (something I actually do say quite a bit; I even have a t-shirt to that effect) and 35A (which was going to be the revealer in a themed puzzle containing the examples in the clue as answers, but I couldn’t come up with two more themers).

I’m posting this on a Thursday instead of my usual Saturday because I’m heading off on another adventure: a day or so in Copenhagen followed by five days in Poland (Warsaw and Krakow), three days in Prague, a Viking cruise on the Elbe River, and a couple of days in Berlin.  In the past I’ve continued to post puzzles while out of the country, but I decided to take a break this time, so look for my next puzzle post in mid-May.

 In the meantime, please follow my travel posts if you’re so inclined:  go to http://puffinlesstravel.com/ for lots of photos and some (hopefully) entertaining prose.  If you like what you see there, please “follow” me!

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Categories
Quote Supersized

History Is Not Inevitable

See 63 Down. Photo taken in Rockville, Maryland, April 2026

Words: 92 (17×17)

Average Length: 5.15

Among my many nerdly pursuits, I’m a history buff.  I find it fascinating how events unfold, no matter the time period or part of the world.  In particular, I’m intrigued by how contingent history is, as the author of this puzzle’s quote emphasized throughout his long, brilliant career.  Only in retrospect does history appear pre-ordained.

When I came across the quote in a posthumously published book of the author’s essays, I knew I wanted to build a puzzle around it.  The trick was figuring out how to display the quote symmetrically; turns out I needed a super-sized grid and mirror (left-right) rather than the traditional rotational symmetry.

online | puz | pdf | solution