Words: 18 (7×7)
Average Length: 5.00
Difficulty: Für Elise-like
I’m not sure whether these will become a regular mid-week addition, but here’s the second in a possibly extended series of musical minis. This one is considerably easier than the one last week and features cameos from Ravel, two Bachs, the Andrews Sisters, Katy Perry, and the Grateful Dead, among others.
Words: 70
Average Length: 5.43
Difficulty: You’ll exercise some neurons. They’ll thank you.
The seed for this one was 17 Across, which I listened to a couple of months ago for the first time since it was released back in 1979. I do not greatly regret the 43-year gap and will probably listen to Blood on the Tracks a few dozen times before I listen to 17 Across again. But it is 15 letters long, and it does allow a cutesy pairing with 56 Across (mascot for a candy I hold in similar regard to 17 Across).
Words: 18 (7×7)
Average Length: 5.00
Difficulty: Familiarity with Weird Al, Beethoven, and musical notation helps. Unfamiliarity is unacceptable and virtually guarantees you won’t complete the grid.
Here’s a piquant amuse-bouche for y’all. It’s about 2/3 music-related clues and 1/3 other stuff. Please enjoy, and please come back Sunday for a challenging themeless.
Words: 74 (17×13)
Average Length: 4.95
Difficulty: Somewhere between yacht rock and pop punk
Surely, you thought (hoped), Jeff has run out of musical puns. Um, no. This one bears some thematic resemblance to Rock of Aging (available here), but is less focused on decrepitude and more on just plain brand extension. Enjoy, share, and come back next Sunday!
Words: 78
Average: 4.78
Difficulty: “All difficulties are easy when they are known” (W. Shakespeare, Measure for Measure)
Yesterday was 62 and sunny; now it’s 26 and snowing. Such is mid-March in the DC area. Mid-March on JeffsPuzzles features a climate-independent, Ides-themed puzzle, so lend me your ears, or at least your pencils/pens/phones/laptops/whatever, and let the Ides march.
Words: 66
Average Length: 5.64
Difficulty: Like trying to figure out the chord progression to almost any Steely Dan song
Time for a challenging themeless! (I can feel your excitement.) So, 14 Down (which I mentioned in my write-up last week if you want to cheat): It’s home to llamas/alpacas/guanacos (some or all; I saw them from a bus but am not up on my camelids) and one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. To serve out our quarantine, my fellow infected people and I were bused to a small city called Rio Grande and put up in a barebones hotel (more like a dorm, but way cleaner) called Select Inn. The ultra-warm and wonderful mother hen at the Inn, whose name is Cinthia, cared for us as if we were her own relatives, providing food, smiles, conversation, and much-needed laughter. Thank you, Cinthia!!! If you ever find yourself in 14 Down and are looking for assistance or advice, Cinthia and her son run a company called Odisea Fueguensa, which does just that.
I hope you enjoy the puzzle. I haven’t decided what’s coming up next. Guess you’ll have to check back next Sunday.
Words: 78
Average Length: 4.79
Difficulty: For those with naturally gray/silver/white/nonexistent hair, like sliding down a snowy hill. For those without such badges of maturity, like trying to escape a leopard seal.
Having just returned from Antarctica, I am compelled to post a penguin-related puzzle. This one definitely and unapologetically skews (Skuas?) old, but I come by that naturally. Antarctica was spectacular, at least until I and around 30 other passengers and crew on our expedition ship tested positive for COVID and spent a week quarantined in remotest Tierra Del Fuego. I’m happy to say I’m now home and healthy.
Apologies for the technical glitch with last Sunday’s puzzle (“Cupid Is As Cupid Does”) – there was only the most tenuous Internet service in the Drake Passage, and apparently the Dropbox links didn’t copy, which is why I reposted it from dry land on Tuesday.
Words: 79 (16×15 grid)
Average Length: 4.96
Difficulty: Like a fine romance – mostly easy with a few bumps along the way
Happy Valentine’s Day! I’ll let Ella Fitzgerald (1 Across) take it from here with her fantastic version of “My Funny Valentine,” available here.
Words: 78
Average Length: 4.92
Difficulty: Like aging gracefully – it can be done but takes some commitment
There’s been a lot of news recently about musicians selling their catalogs for hundreds of millions of dollars. But there’s another way for chronologically advanced rockers to monetize their hits – adapt them to tout cures for various afflictions of the aging. Such as, you may ask? Solve and find out!
Jeff's Puzzles