Words: 74
Average Length: 5.05
Well here’s a surprise: a puzzle combining music and food. Whatever conclusions you might draw from my proclivity for this combination likely are correct. (For another example, see Meals in Motown.)
Words: 10
Average Length: 4.20
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
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
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.
Words: 10
Average Length: 4.80
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”
Words: 10
Average Length: 4.60
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
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.
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.
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).
Words: 10
Average Length: 4.40
Explanation/spoilers below the break
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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
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