Author: Jeff

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Mini Venn Mini

Venn Mini 7

Words:  10

Average Length:  4.20

online | puz | pdf | solution

Think of each half of each clue as a circle in a Venn diagram. The answer will lie in the intersection of the two circles. It could be a name, a word with different meanings in each context, a common component, or something else they share.

Spoilers/explanations below the photo

Ceiling inside the Vatican (8A)

1A: SPOCK – Dr. Benjamin Spock wrote what was, for a long time, the baby care bible.  Mr. Spock, of course, needs no introduction.  Live long and prosper!

6A:  THREE – Lithium’s atomic number and Dale Earnhardt’s car number

7A:  DADDY – Daddy Yankee was featured on Despacito and Daddy Warbucks is a main character in Annie

8A:  SEE – The government of the Catholic Church (Holy See) operates from the Vatican, and you “see” in poker when you match a bet

9A:  ERS – as in emergency rooms and “ers” when someone is searching for a word

1D:  STD – a reg (regulation) is a standard (std), and the “clap” is slang for gonorrhea, a kind of sexually transmitted disease

2D:  PHASE – the “terrible twos” is considered a phase, and liquid is a phase (state) of matter

3D:  ORDER – is a categorization in taxonomy (between family and class), and a monastery generally is populated by monks of a specific order (e.g., Franciscans)

4D:  CEDES – sorry about this one; it’s a stretch but it works if you consider that the root -cede is used with con (concede) but not pro (which changes the root to ceed) and pre (precede) but not post (instead it’s succeed).  I got backed into a corner on this one!

5D:  KEY – a piano has 88 of them; Florida has around 800

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Themeless

Themeless 49

Buildings along the Douglas waterfront, 36 Across (July 2022)

Words: 72

Average Length: 5.36

CORRECTION: THE CLUE FOR 68 ACROSS SHOULD READ “THREE MAKE AN O”, NOT A T.

The three seeds for this grid were 20, 36, and 57 Across.  I started with 20 Across and then 36 Across immediately popped into mind.  I had to find a third entry to complement 20 Across and continue the mini-theme, and a couple of minutes’ thought produced 57 Across.   

By the way, if you ever get a chance to visit 36 Across, it’s a charming place to spend a few days.  I was there last summer after a week hiking in Wales – you can read about it and see additional photos on my PuffinlessTravel blog here and here.

online | puz | pdf | solution

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Mini Venn Mini

Venn Mini 6

Words: 10

Average Length: 4.80

See 6A (taken in Venice, July 2014)

online | puz | pdf | solution

Spoilers/solving notes below:

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1A:  A shepherd uses a STAFF and an employer hires a STAFF

6A:  An ear has a CANAL, and Erie is one

7A:  Lewis Carroll wrote about ALICE in Wonderland, and Jefferson Airplane’s song White Rabbit is based on Carroll’s book

8A:  Bags are TOTES and in “I Love You Man,” Paul Rudd’s character says “TOTES McGotes”

9A:  Mathematician John NASH was the subject of “A Beautiful Mind,” and Graham NASH was a founding member of The Hollies

1D:  Ella Fitzgerald was known for SCAT singing, and animal poop is called SCAT

2D:  An eagle has TALONs, and TALON is a major brand of zipper

3D:  ANITA Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment, and ANITA is Maria’s friend in West Side Story

4D:  Clocks have FACES and Rod Stewart was in a band called FACES

5D:  In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock famously speaks of “the pound of FLESH, which I demand of [Antonio]”, and Matthew 26 contains the line “the spirit is willing but the FLESH is weak”

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Themed

Din-din’s Ready

Speaking of noise … the roaring Godafoss waterfall, Iceland (July 2010)

Words:  70

Average Length:  5.11

Here’s a grid filled with sound and fury signifying nothing; you’ll have to decide if it’s a tale told by an idiot. 

online | puz | pdf | solution

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Mini Venn Mini

Venn Mini 5

Words:  10

Average Length:  4.60

See clue for 3 Down (this is a raven (I believe), photographed near Stonehenge. Flocks of them were swooping around the stones, creating quite an eerie atmosphere.

online | puz | pdf | solution

1A:  STEAM comes from a kettle and a steamroller is a piece of construction equipment

6A:  a HEDGE is a kind of bush and one can hedge a bet

7A:  Mike Trout is an ANGEL, as is an investor in a start-up

8A:  ROAST can mean good-natured kidding, and one roasts a turkey

9A:  ERR works as a prefix for both -and and -or

1D:  Kids learn to SHARE in kindergarten, and stocks are sold in shares

2D:  Coltrane played TENOR sax and Pavarotti was a tenor

3D:  EDGAR Allen Poe wrote “The Raven” and EDGAR Degas painted “The Dancing Class”

4D:  AGES follows both “Stone” and “Middle”

5D:  Ice will MELT, and a tuna melt is a (delicious!) sandwich

Categories
Themeless

Themeless 48

Palms (see 21 Across), Promthep Cape, Phuket, Thailand, Jan. 2020

Words:  68

Average Length:  5.56

The seed for this grid was 15 Across, which is a fact I learned, appropriately enough, while playing trivia on a joint US-Canadian team (creatively called “USCAN”) on a recent trip.  (Our team won the ship’s progressive trivia tournament!).  For the whole story of the connection between 15 Across and Pooh, see this Wikipedia link.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Mini Venn Mini

Venn Mini 4

Words:  10

Average Length:  4.60

This one may (or may not) play a bit tougher than previous VMs – I can never tell.  Spolers/explanation below the break.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales (see 4 Across)

1A.  AMP – amplifier, ampere

4A.  CORDS – newborns have umbilical cords and cords (corduroy pants) have wales (ridges)

7A.  IDIOT – Village idiot; Dostoevsky wrote The Idiot

8A.  DEMME – Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins appeared together in Silence of the Lambs, Jonathan Demme’s most famous movie.

9A.  SLEEP – REM is a sleep stage; the famous Hamlet soliloquy contains the line “to sleep, perchance to dream”.  (The clue would work equally well for DREAM.)  I wanted to further the REM misdirection by having the second half of the clue be “Sidewinder”; the band had a medium-sized hit song called “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite,” but it’s 30 years old and I wasn’t sure how well-known it is.

1D.  ACIDS are used in etching, and “on acid” is slang for tripping on LSD

2D.  MODEL – a model poses on a runway, and an A380 is an airplane model from Airbus. Major misdirect on this one!

3D.  PRIME – beef and numbers both may be prime

5D.  DOME – Buckminster Fuller is known for designing a geodesic dome, and the Pantheon in Rome is one of the most famous domed buildings in the world

6D.  STEP – it’s a synonym for stair and, in music, a step is a whole tone (e.g., from C to D).

Categories
Themed

Mardi Grid

Words: 73

Average Length: 5.04

See 15 Across

Here’s a mouth-watering yet calorie-free puzzle honoring New Orleans cuisine, with a side of some delicious puns.  Laissez les bon temps rouler!

online | puz | pdf | solution

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Mini Themeless Venn Mini

Venn Mini 3

Words:  10

Average Length:  4.40

online | puz | pdf | solution

Explanation/spoilers below the break

Bike (see 6 Across) on a rainy day in Amsterdam, Oct. 2019

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1A:  SPARE is a score in bowling and an emergency tire

6A:  PEDALs are used to ride a bicycle and to stop a car

7A:  ATOMS have nuclei, and Thom Yorke/Flea’s band was Atoms for Peace

8A:  DEBS is short for debutantes and also the surname of Eugene V. Debs, a 5-time Socialist candidate for US President

9A:  ERE is contained in both Where and There

1D:  SPADE is a suit in a deck of cards and also a garden tool

2D:  PETER Cottontail was Flopsy and Mopsy’s brother; a famous Tsar was Peter the Great

3D:  ADOBE is a type of clay brick as well as the developer of Acrobat software

4D:  RAMS are pick-up trucks from Dodge and an NFL franchise in Los Angeles

5D:  ELS (elevated train) are operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), and Ernie Els is a noted member of the PGA Tour

Categories
Themed

Pleased to Meat You

Fall (see 20 Down)

Words:  72

Average Length:  5.25

[NOTE: 48 DOWN SHOULD REFERENCE 46 DOWN, NOT 46 ACROSS]

This is a pretty straightforward themed puzzle, other than the fact that you have to solve an algebraic equation to get 27 and 28 Down – and then translate the numbers into German.  Have fun, share, and I hope you stayed awake back in 7th grade math class.

online | puz | pdf | solution