Words: 11
Average Length: 4.91
The seed for today’s mini was 1 Across, which randomly popped into my head yesterday while watching the Nats “earn” their 42nd blown save of the season (the previous MLB record was 37). Perhaps it was a subconscious realization that the only hope for our bullpen is divine intervention.
Words: 14 (7×7)
Average Length: 5.29
2 Down was the seed for this puzzle. When I filled the rest of the grid, I put in 4 Across and immediately thought of the song in the clue – a couple of hours before the news broke of Tim Curry’s death. Doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo (that’s Twilight Zone music).
Words: 10 (5×5)
Average Length: 5.00
I’ve now constructed a handful of cryptic crosswords. I’m still not sure whether I’m following all the rules, but I’m pleased with the way this puzzle turned out. Any tips/corrections/comments would be greatly appreciated!
Not to fear, non-cryptic solvers – I’ll post an American-style midi in a couple of days.
Keep scrolling down for an explanation of the answers.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ * * * * * * * * _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ * * * * * * * * _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
1A: Anagram of spare
6A: Answer dangles and coats the throat when talking
7A: Answer contained within “amid a swamp”
8A: Homophone pair: baits/bates
9A: Anagram of nasty
1D: Spirit (rum) + degree (BA)
2D: Naïve read bottom to top
3D: Sydney (Australia) note = AUD + it
4D: Pun
5D: Butt (ass) contained within little Seymour (SY)
Words: 8 (4×4)
Average Length: 4.00
When I posted the first To and Fro puzzle a couple of weeks ago, I kvetched at length about what a construction challenge it was. Then my second attempt came together pretty quickly, though I did spend an hour or so trying to improve 1D – to no avail, as you’ll see. Perhaps 4D will make up for it.
Words: 8 (4×4)
Average Length: 3.75
On an hours-per-square basis, this must have been the most time-consuming puzzle I’ve ever constructed. Its lineage stretches back for months. Early last winter, I decided it’d be cool to design a puzzle where each entry formed a different, valid word either forward and backward or up and down, as relevant.
I began by trying to make a 5×5 grid work, but got nowhere slowly. Then I set my sights at a 4×4 puzzle. Because I expected this to be a trivial exercise, I took on certain constraints: no foreign words, no acronyms, no abbreviations. One by one, I dropped each of these and decided a 4×4 grid with no black squares would be fine.
That limitation, too, turned out to be effectively insurmountable. I did come up with a draft that worked, except that one of the down entries, when read in the upward direction, was just too obscure to include. And so, many months later, I give you this puzzle, black square and all.
Before finally giving you the links, I need to thank Jeanne Breen, fellow cruciverbalist and baseball fanatic who took my unintentionally opaque attempt at an explanatory note and turned it into readily understandable prose. If you enjoy creative, varied, entertaining word games, you owe it to yourself to follow Jeanne’s blog, In Pursuit of Puzzles.
Words: 16 (7×7)
Average Length: 4.88
I constructed this one as an exercise: I wanted to make a mini puzzle starting with 1D and ending with 12D. As exercises go, it turned out to be of the not-exactly-breaking-a-sweat variety: to my surprise, filling the grid only took a half hour or so after I’d settled on a grid shape.
Words: 16
Average Length: 5.00
The seeds for this puzzle were the title clue (used in 5D), which came to me out of the blue the other day, and 8A, which I learned from a Norwegian gentleman a few weeks ago. The title clue is cryptic. If you solve the online version, there’s a conventional clue you can reveal. Otherwise, here’s the conventional clue in retrograde: rotcelloc niar.
Words: 10 (5×5)
Average Length: 5.00
I haven’t published a mini in quite a while. This one was seeded by 1A and 1D. I already had the clue ready for 1A, then put in 1D after coming up with a clever-ish clue. 8A has a cryptic clue – “can be” indicates an anagram – because I’m tired of seeing the answer clued as “fall bloomer” or “daisy relative.”
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