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.
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”
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.
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.
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).
[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.
I wasn’t threatened too grievously after posting Venn Mini 1 last week, so here we go again! Think of each half of each clue as a circle in a Venn diagram; the answer will fit in the intersection between the two circles. It could be a common component, a word used in both “circles” but with different meanings, a name associated with both “circles,” or some other common ground.
EXPLANATIONS/SPOILERS BELOW
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1A: MOSS is a kind of bryophyte; Kate Moss is a supermodel
5A: COPPER is an essential element of both brass and bronze
7A: O’LEARY was the owner of the cow that started the great Chicago fire, and “Mr. Wonderful” on Shark Tank is Kevin O’Leary
8A: DERIVE is a term used both in calculus and in etymology
9A: SANE – besides meaning “sensible,” Aladdin Sane was one of David Bowie’s alter egos
1D: MOLES are enemy agents who’ve burrowed into a spy organization as well as rodents that burrow in gardens
2D: OPERA – The Marx Brothers are known for A Night at the Opera and Kurt Weill is noted for his music for The Threepenny Opera (esp. “Mack the Knife”)
3D: SPAIN – Toledo is a city in Spain and Columbus’s expeditions were funded by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain
4D: SERVE – people serve in tennis and in the military
5D: COD – Cash on Delivery or a kind of fish
6D: RYE – Salinger wrote The Catcher in the Rye, and rye is a type of whiskey
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