Words: 16
Average Length: 5.25
Difficulty: A smidge tougher than average maybe?
Mix one cup of rock, a couple of tablespoons of pop, indie, and rap, and a dash of other music stuff, pour the mixture over 7 artfully arranged squares of very dark chocolate, marinate for a few weeks in your “Upcoming Puzzles” folder, and voila – Mostly Musical Mini 13, where, fittingly, 13 of the 16 clues are legitimately music-related. I hope you find it tasty!
Words: 16
Average Length: 5.00
Difficulty: Listening-habits specific – this one leans heavily jazz and rock
I started with the cold/hot pair at 4D and 12A and ended up with a bit of R&B, jazz, disco, and classic rock. Which is an indirect way of saying that none of the theme entries is more recent than around 1976. I’ll try to be more chronologically inclusive (i.e., less fusty) in future offerings, I promise.
Words: 19
Average Length: 4.63
Difficulty: Easy like Sunday morning
I’ve crammed some the biggest names in musical entertainment, spanning pop, classic rock, indie, grunge, and calypso, into an adorable 7×7 grid. You can’t find value like that anywhere else, folks. Solve and enjoy!
Words: 16
Average Length: 5.25
Difficulty: Moderato
Yesterday’s LA Times/Wash. Post puzzle, 23 Across: Clue – *Tunes for fogies. Answer – Classic Rock. The clue was asterisked to indicate an answer fitting the “sugar coat” theme, or as the clue for the “sugar coat” answer put it, “make sweeter, in the way the theme answers do to their starred clues.” As an old college friend of mine used to say, “I resemble that remark.” (I graduated college in 1980, so any college friend of mine is an old friend.)
Having said that, note that out of 12 music-related clues in this week’s mini, only one answer (11 Across), a mere 8.3%, is arguably classic rock-related. Don’t claim that 4 Down were classic rock. They were a classic band, but a decade too late.
Words: 18
Average Length: 5.00
Difficulty: Legato
This week’s Mostly Musical Mini brings Ellington, Winehouse, a (very) little rap, a multi-talented Bajan billionaire, and more. Please solve and enjoy!
Solve online | puz | pdf | solution
Words: 16
Average Length: 5.5
Difficulty: A gentle May breeze with one or two gusts
The seed for this one was 13 Across – to me, one of the greatest songs ever written. It’s a Leonard Cohen classic, and it was covered (gorgeously of course) by Judy Collins. You can listen to his version here, and hers here.
Check back on Sunday for a special Mothers’ Day Puzzle.
Words: 18
Average Length: 5
Difficulty: Like Chick Corea’s Children’s Song #1
Don’t know the reference? It’s a deceptively simple, hypnotic tune with an intriguing melody line and some tricky rhythms. You can listen to it here.
After last week’s tribute to Coltrane’s Giant Steps, this grid leans classical. Nothing is too obscure, however, except maybe 1 Across, which is why it has such a tortured clue.
Words: 18
Average Length: 5
Difficulty: Moderato ma non troppo
1 Down is way up on my favorite bands list and Robbie Robertson is a great songwriter, but after 50 years I still can’t tell you what The Weight means. 2 Down is the first Police song I ever heard and I still enjoy it, notwithstanding the lame couplet noted in the clue. In 6 Down, I added the reference to Fantasia because I have clear memories of seeing the movie, being a little scared by the Sorcerer’s Apprentice section, but loving the sound of the instrument in the answer.
Jeff's Puzzles