I’m back from a wonderful trip hiking in Wales and riding trains in the Isle of Man (including the railway that inspired Thomas the Tank Engine!). I’m posting this early because I cracked my computer screen and I’m not sure how long it’ll take to repair it. Stay tuned for a challenging Themeless on Sunday, assuming I have my computer back.
Category: Mostly Musical Mini
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Mostly Musical Mini 13
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!
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Mostly Musical Mini 12
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Mostly Musical Mini 11
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.
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Mostly Musical Mini 10
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!
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Mostly Musical Mini 9
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.
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Mostly Musical Mini 8
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
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Mostly Musical Mini 7
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Mostly Musical Mini 6
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.
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Mostly Musical Mini 5
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.
Jeff's Puzzles 