Words: 73
Average Length: 4.88
Difficulty: Not quite treacherous enough for the Ninth Circle
Somehow a underworld-themed puzzle seems particularly apt these days.
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Author: Jeff
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Themeless 27
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.
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A Profusion of Penguins
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.
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Rock of Aging
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!
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Themeless 26
Words: 68
Average Length: 5.51
Difficulty: Like one of those mini golf holes where you need to hit the ball up a slope without letting it go down the other side. Kinda hard, but doable.
This one’s friendly enough, I think. A little geometry, some tennis, a couple of expressions of distaste, one of my favorite childhood toys, and quick nods to the objectively best Steely Dan album and a terrific book by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Please enjoy and pass it along. Next week (Feb. 6), look for a themed puzzle built around some rock classics retitled by their aging performers.
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Sartorial Tall Tales
Words: 74
Average Length: 4.89
Difficulty: Like deciding what to wear to a dinner with friends who always get spiffed up when they go out, even though you prefer jeans and a sweatshirt
Disclaimer 1: I had never heard of 17 Across until I saw a news story about his passing, yet he was someone whom style mavens consider a giant in the field. I’d been mulling over possible theme entries for a puzzle with 57 Across as a revealer but tabled the idea because I couldn’t come up with a decent grid-spanner to place symmetrically to the revealer. I watched the news story with interest and then realized that not only is the subject’s full name 15 letters long, but he was a towering 6’6” tall. Problem solved, puzzle created!
Disclaimer 2: I have no business constructing a crossword about style. Buried deep in my files, securely under lock and key, is a photo of me in 1976 conducting our high school wind ensemble. I had near-shoulder length bushy hair and was wearing a very loud plaid sports jacket, a tie that must have been 5 inches wide, and orangy-reddish platform shoes. Yes, it was the ‘70s, but still ….
Coming up next (Jan. 29), a moderately challenging themeless.
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Meals in Motown
Words: 72
Average Length: 4.97
Difficulty: Easy like Sunday morning … if you’re a Motown fan
Smokey, the Temptations, Stevie, Marvin, and the Supremes have restaurants named (with a twist) after some of their most famous songs. Let’s eat!
Please enjoy, share, and comment if you like.
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Themeless 25
Words: 68
Average Length: 5.38
Difficulty: Yes
In constructing this puzzle, I wanted most of my grid-spanners to be phrases. That’s one thing I love about Tim Croce’s Club 72 puzzles; many of his long answers are conversational. (Check out his puzzles here. He posts challenging themeless puzzles every Tuesday and themeless or variety puzzles every Friday.)
A couple of other notes: I’m particularly (yet inexplicably) fond of the punny clues for 29 and 52 Down, and I’m always happy to include 41 Down in a grid; she’s one of the very greatest singer-songwriters ever.
Enjoy, share, follow, etc. Next up (1/16) will be a puzzle with tips for where to eat in Motown.
Words: 74
Average Length: 4.95
Difficulty: Mostly easy listening with an occasional #9 chord
After several months, here’s another Set List puzzle. (The first two are available here and here.) As the note says, assume these musicians are playing a concert together (Bruce gets two songs because he’s Bruce, after all). Bruce starts it off, Bryan Adams continues, and the songs run into each other. Your job is to figure out the set list. Please enjoy, share, etc. Next up (1/9) will be a tough themeless.
Jeff's Puzzles 