Author: Jeff

puz | pdf | solution

How about a juicy, not too difficult themeless with references to con artists, schismatics, the best music documentary I’ve ever seen, and a classic novel of anti-colonialism?  You won’t find that just anywhere, you know.  Enjoy and share!

Two bits of housekeeping before my usual rambling notes:

First, a big thank you to my son Adam and to Josh Audibert for helping me through an annoying technical issue.  Plug time:  Adam’s iPhone and iPad app Albums – album focused player is a powerful, flexible, and engaging music player, available on the App Store at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/albums-album-focused-player/id1469948986.  Josh publishes fun, creative daily minis on his Odd Bear Puzzles site, oddbearpuzzles.com.  Solve them if you’re not already doing so!

Second, in an effort (vain in one sense but hopefully not in another) to drive more traffic to this site, I’ve ordered hats with my site’s logo on it (picture below).  If you’d like one —ABSOLUTELY FREE — before they hit the runway in Paris, email me at JeffsPuzzles@gmail.com with your address.

25A:  I hope the 33/45 reference isn’t lost on too many solvers.  In a world where CDs are as outdated as calculators, the vinyls of my youth (almost all of which I still have, thank you very much, as well as a turntable to play them on) are just so many abaci.

27A:  This song charted well in the UK but got little air play in the US, apparently because it references cross-dressing.

38A:  The major monotheistic religions mostly share the same admirable ethical precepts.  But historically, and still today, many adherents of these religions have ignored their faith’s teachings and clashed violently over what, to the outside observer (e.g., anyone practicing a different religion) is doctrinal hair-splitting with little ethical import.  This answer is but one example.  Pedantic lecture over (until the next one).

puz | pdf | solution

Word Count:  70

Average Length:  5.57

Difficulty:  5 out of 5

Here’s a challenging themeless built around three grid-spanners:  a terrific book from the great Haruki Murakami, a classic line from a very funny baseball movie, and a fervent wish about our nation’s capital. Enjoy and share!

10A:  Walter is one of my favorite authors.  His characters – labor organizers, reformed criminals, active criminals, movie stars, poets – come alive, and he writes with deep feeling and sharp wit.

45A:  I’m not sure how many people remember him – he’s still alive and kicking at 94 – but Sahl is credited as the first modern stand-up comic, and his political satire inspired Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and many others.

60A:  I refuse to clue this by reference to my local baseball team so soon after they traded so many stars (especially to the Dodgers!).

4D:  Another favorite author of mine, Murakami’s novels brim over with music, magic, and close attention to his characters’ internal lives.

10D:  Here’s a link to the clip, which follows the memorable line “He’s a juvenile delinquent in the off-season, in his Major League debut.”  The quote is around the 54 second mark.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_wc9JvTXGc. 

puz | pdf | solution

Word Count:  72

Average Length:  5.36

Difficulty:  4 out of 5

As the mat says, Welcome!  This one’s a moderately challenging themeless, so put your thinking caps on and remember, it’s nice to share …

34A:  I apologize for failing to find a less gloomy quote for this answer.

3D:  This is the heart of Miami’s Cuban community

9D: The furor triggered by the Encyclopedie, which was the first largely secular encyclopedia, makes for an entertaining story.  An Enlightenment tour-de-force, the Encyclopedie was banned by the Catholic Church and blamed/credited for the French Revolution.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A9die

puz | pdf | solution

Word Count:  70

Average Length:  5.40

Difficulty:  5 out of 5

The seed for this one, not surprisingly, was 5D, which I first thought of when constructing my two Set List puzzles a month or so ago.   Joni Mitchell has remained one of my all-time favorites since the early 70s, and her fourth album is phenomenal, justifiably considered #3 on Rolling Stone’s most recent list of the 500 Greatest Rock Albums of All Time.  My views on Taylor Swift have pulled a “uey,” to use some bad crossword fill.  I used to dismiss her as just another bland pop star, but now that I’ve given her a chance, I think she’s an exceptionally talented songwriter and performer.  Her first acoustic album from 2020, “folklore,” is really nice.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the puzzle.  Please share generously!

puz | pdf | solution

Word Count:  70

Average Length:  5.51

Difficulty: 4.5 out of 5

After last week’s excursion into immoderate inanity, here’s a straightforward themeless.  Please share with gusto and flair; please comment if you’re so inclined.

17A:  I believe this is a universal phenomenon; I’m only slightly embarrassed to admit we have three of these in our kitchen.

24A:  The proud home of Lagavulin, which crafts wonderful whiskies.  I love their 16 year old offering (see photo above); that and the Balvenie Double Wood (non-peaty) are my go-to Scotches.

50A: “It’s better to burn out than to fade away” – one of my favorite Neil Young lines, though not as good as “This much madness is too much sorrow,” which could have been the theme song for the administration of he-who-shall-not-be named (45).

8D:  Notable example:  the turtle from Kentucky

53D:  This was a new one on me, but apparently, it’s a disparaging term aimed at the less physically gifted (such as yours truly).  I checked its currency with my younger son, who is a baseball player and has heard it before.  It’s “in the language,” just not one I speak. By the way, it stands for Non-Athletic Regular Person.

55D:  Suboptimal fill, to be sure.  I thought that there was a current famous person with this surname (not Matthew of The Americans fame, who spells it Rhys), but other than a bevy of Welsh rugby and football (soccer) players, I was wrong.