Category: Themed

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Themed

I’ll Have Anagrams on the Side

Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires (see 19 Across). Photo taken February 2026.

Words: 78

Average Length: 4.79

Word nerd that I am, I love anagrams.  So much so, in fact, that I decided that each edge of this puzzle should be populated by three anagrams.  The first answer of each triplet has three clues; the solver has to determine which clue applies to which member of the triplet.  (I think it’s actually easier to do than to explain, but just in case it’s not, I toned down the difficulty level for the rest of the fill.)

Many thanks to Jeanne Breen (find her wonderful word puzzles on her blog, In Pursuit of Puzzles) for taking a look at an earlier draft and assuring me the concept is not too annoying!

I leave tomorrow for 17 days in Africa:  two days in Addis Ababa followed by a two week safari with Odysseys Unlimited through the major nature preserves in Kenya and Tanzania.  I’m going to take a break from posting puzzles until I return, but in the meantime, please follow my adventures on my travel blog, www.PuffinlessTravel.com.  I promise there will be lots of photos of charismatic megafauna!

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Midi Music Themed

Crickets

The title insects – and also the name of 10 Down / 27 Down’s band – for sale by the seasoned scoop at Wat Chai Thararam, Phuket, Thailand. Photo taken Jan. 2020. (I opted for ice cream instead on a 98 degree day. Of course, I would have done so on an 8 degree day as well.)

Words: 43 (11×11)

Average Length: 4.79

The idea for this puzzle came from a book I just finished, Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead, by Dennis McNally.  There’s a particular song (8 Down) that the Dead covered in live performances more than 500 times, and I thought the title of the song lent itself to a midi grid.

Alas, the only way I could make the concept work was for the first seed entry (1 Across) to be an obscure French artist.  I’d never heard of him, and I’d guess that very few of you have either.   But the crosses should help with 1 Across, and once the concept becomes apparent, the answer should fall into place easily.  (To help the concept become apparent, the online version includes some shaded cells, but the circles should work just as well, if less colorfully.)

There’s an additional hint in the solving note, which references my original entry at 1 Across – a very similar word that’s a bit more widely known but spoiled the purity of the concept.

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Categories
Themed

Trainspotting

Photo taken on the Isle of Man, July 2022

Words: 75

Average Length: 4.85

Today’s puzzle is straightforward, so I’ll devote the write-up to two musical links.  The first, “Girlfriend Is Better” (see 17 Across) is from the Talking Heads. I saw the movie in 17 Across half a dozen times after it came out.  The second, Chick Corea’s brilliant “Spain,” features Bill Watrous on 3 Down, along with Hubert Laws on flute, George Benson on guitar, Stanley Clarke on bass, Lenny White on drums, and Corea on keyboards.  Please listen to the whole thing – if you’re like me, it’ll energize you face for hours – but definitely check out Watrous’s solo (its starts at 2:42) if you want to be amazed at what can be done with a 3 Down.

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Categories
Themed Midi

You Butter Believe

See 5D. Photo taken in Dijon, France, Oct. 2025.

Words: 30 (9×9)

Average Length: 4.60

Once 14A popped into my head, I knew I had to build a puzzle around it.  And since butter makes almost everything better – spread the word – a theme was born.

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Asymmetrical Themed

P(f)un With Food

See 1 Across. The Lagavullin 16 is a wonderful, smoky Scotch. When I want to forego the smoke, I go for the Balvenie Doublewood. (I love how Scotch brands take a definite article.)

Words: 77 (13×17)

Average Length: 5.06

This is my 500th puzzle since starting this blog in April 2021!  Two hundred eighty-four of those have been full-sized (15×15 or larger): 132 themeless and 152 themed.  One hundred forty-two have been minis (including 34 Mostly Musical Minis and 4 Cryptics), and the remaining 74 have been midis.  I’ve had 31,000 visitors (72,000 views) from over 100 countries.  My heartfelt thanks to all of you!

This is my first full-sized puzzle that isn’t symmetrical – I figure once every 500 puzzles or so that’s OK, so don’t rat me out to the crossword cops!  As with many of my themed puzzles, this one is food-focused (my second-most fertile source of inspiration after music).  The four seeds, 36A, 54A, 13D, and 32D, are all inspired/ridiculous food-related puns, and it a lot of the fill concerns food as well.  I must have been feeling a bit peckish while constructing, not to mention puckish while cluing!

Again, thanks so much for solving!  I have many more visitors each week than I do subscribers, so if you like my puzzles please follow my site – my understanding is that having more followers enhances search visibility, but as far as I know, SEO could stand for Sorcerers, Enchantments, and Oracles.

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Mini Themed

Statistically Speaking

11th century mosque built on the walls of the Temple of Luxor (see 4 Down). Photo taken November 2025.

Words: 18 (7×7)

Average Length: 5.00

1A was the seed for today’s mini; along with 3D it’s the reason for the title.  I had fun with some of the clues, so watch out!

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Categories
Themed

Feed the Zombies

Statues in Heroes’ Square, see 59 Across. Photo taken July 2023.

Words: 72

Average Length: 5.14

This is a thoroughly reworked version of the themed puzzle I decided not to post last week.  How reworked?  I kept the four theme answers, chose a new revealer and title, and scrapped everything else.  Enjoy!

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Categories
Themed

I Can’t Find My Knees

See 4 Down. Photo taken June 2017.

Words: 18 (7×7)

Average Length: 5.00

I just finished a fascinating (to me at least) book about the relationship between Bob Dylan and The Beatles, “Where the Music Had To Go,” by Jim Windolf.  At one point, the book discussesthe Dylan song that’s in 8A, which is one of my favorites of his.  I think the first verse is among the most evocative passages he ever wrote:

Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks
When you’re tryin’ to be so quiet
We sit here stranded, though we’re all doin’ our best to deny it
And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin’ you to defy it
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there’s nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of [redacted] that conquer my mind

Later in the song, the lyrics become (to me, at least) impenetrable, and that’s where the title of this puzzle comes from: 

See the primitive wallflower freeze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the mustache say, “Jeez, I can’t find my knees”

Come back Saturday for a full-size themed puzzle titled “What’s the Big Idea?”

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Categories
Midi Themed

In A Pickle

Sunset on the Nile (nothing to do with the puzzle) Nov. 2025

Words: 38 (11×11)

Average Length: 5.42

14A was the seed for today’s midi.  I couldn’t come up with any other decent pickle-related puns, so I went with 26A and 6D to round out the theme set.

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Categories
Themed

Yes I Can

See 64 Across. Photo taken in Krakow, Poland, May 2026

Words: 76 (14×16)

Average Length: 4.79

I’d had the idea for this puzzle for ages, but the construction turned into more of a challenge than I expected.  I even had an entirely different puzzle with the same theme ready to go, but I wasn’t happy with it and decided to start over.

I’m a sucker for unusual time signatures, and 11D fits the bill:  it’s one of only two rock songs I know of that’s predominantly in 7/4.  (The other is “Solsbury Hill,” by Peter Gabriel; the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” alternates between 7/4 and 4/4.)

19A is something my mother used to say.  She had other precipitation-related expressions as well: if it was raining while the sun was shining, she’d say “las brujas bailan” – “the witches are dancing” – an expression she picked up during her childhood in Puerto Rico.

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