Category: Themed

Categories
Holiday Themed

Happy New Year 2024

View from the Port Erin train station, 28 Across (photo taken July 2022)

Words:  72

Average Length:  5.25

As the title suggests, today’s grid offers my heartfelt New Year’s wishes to those of you who take the time to solve my puzzles.  I really appreciate it, and I look forward to tossing another 100 or so puzzles your way in 2024.  Please feel free to comment or email me (jeffspuzzles@gmail.com) if you ever have a question, suggestion, reaction, correction, whatever. 

If you’re thinking of traveling in the new year, check out my travel blog, PuffinlessTravel.com. In 2023, I added several posts about France and Spain (visiting caves with paleolithic art), Luxembourg, Andorra, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Hungary. Next week I’ll be traveling to Australia and New Zealand and will be adding lots of posts and pix from that experience.

You might also enjoy my poetry blog, It-Could-Be-Verse.com. 

Happy New Year!!!

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Categories
Themed

You Can’t Fool Her

See 19 Down: Granddaughter Ella enjoying a bagel from our favorite bagel store, Ize’s

Words:  77 (16×15)

Average Length:  5.19

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!  The author recommendation for today is Kate Atkinson (29 Across clue).  She’s stylish, thought-provoking, clever, and wonderfully creative.  Pick anything she’s written – you can’t go wrong.

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Categories
Themed

Hammer Knows

See 50 Down. Picture taken in the Escambray Mountains, Cuba, Nov. 2023.

Words:  76

Average Length:  4.87

I hope you nail this one!  As always, thanks for solving.  I really do appreciate it.  If you ever have questions, comments, suggestions, or even complaints, please share them!

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Categories
Midi Themed

Suits Me

Words:  28 (9×9)

Average Length:  4.93

So here’s the deal; I’ll get straight to the point:  flush with excitement, as if playing to a full house, I present you this week’s midi.  The only other thing I have to say is that of all the songs listed in the clue to 11 Across, Janis’s is the best, Paul’s the catchiest, Billy’s the silkiest, and Lobo’s the, um, Lobo-est.

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Categories
Themed

Color Meld 2 – Books

See 39 Down. Photo taken near Cusco, Peru, Sept. 2022.

Words:  75 (16×15)

Average Length:  5.33

I hope all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving had a meaningful and enjoyable holiday.  In today’s puzzle:  more fun with colors, and a pangram to boot!  The third puzzle in this series (involving food) will appear in a couple of weeks. 

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Categories
Supersized Themed

Place Names

One of Cuba’s famous old American cars. I rode in this one, which was beautiful on the outside but had no working gauges (speedometer, gas, etc.)

Words:  88 (17×17)

Average Length:  5.30

I’m writing this while sitting in the lounge at the Houston airport on my way from Cuba (land of scarcity) to Washington DC in the super-size everything USA.  Hence a supersized puzzle.  Enjoy!

Cuba is a fascinating place whose wonderful people are suffering greatly as a result of the Cuban government’s regressive policies, the ill effects of which are exacerbated by the US government’s nonsensical and inhumane embargo.  I’ll be posting write-ups of my trip all week on my PuffinlessTravel.com blog – check them out if you’re interested or just want to see some pictures of what life is like 90 miles from Key West.

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Categories
Mini Themed

The Devil You Say

I may have to move! (Seen on a bike ride last weekend)

Words:  16

Average Length:  4.75

As promised, after last week’s heavenly-focused mini, here’s one playing devil’s advocate.  Happy Halloween!  Bit of a different schedule this week:  Tuesday instead of Wednesday for the mini, and I’ll post a full-size grid Friday before heading to Cuba for a week.  Next puzzle probably will be Monday the 13th.

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Categories
Themed

Color Meld 1 – Music

Rabbit (see 31 Across)

Words:  70

Average Length:  5.17

Even though I’m red-green colorblind, I’ve always been fascinated by the way different colors combine to form other colors.  Here’s the first of three puzzles in this vein.  The primary color theme answers for this one are two excellent, very well-known songs (19 and 32 Across).  19 Across, to me, is one of Dylan’s best, from the album of his (Blood on the Tracks) that I like the most.  32 Across also is a great song, from Joni Mitchell’s brilliant Ladies of the Canyon album (which also has “The Circle Game” and “For Free,” two other terrific tracks).  At first I was reluctant to include the relatively unfamiliar 49 Across as the secondary color theme answer, but I’ve always had a sweet spot in my heart for it, and it is, as the clue notes, considered the first bubblegum pop hit to make it to #1.  Here’s a link.

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Categories
Mini Themed

The Final Frontier

Words:  16 (7×7)

Average Length:  4.75

I guess I’m still stuck in outer space after Sunday’s tribute to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  No worries, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to solve this one.

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Categories
Themed

Themeless 63

This has nothing to do with the puzzle, but I saw this while food shopping yesterday. I absolutely do not want to know what happened!

Words:  72

Average Length:  5.28

It’s too bad this wasn’t Themeless 42, as you’ll understand once you’ve solved the puzzle.  I called this a themeless even though the one of the two seeds (1 Down/8 Down, with 17 Across the second) and a few other entries relate to a hysterically funny, warm-hearted Douglas Adams series that I would make compulsory reading if I were 1 Down/8 Down.  Constructor’s prerogative – if it’s 72 words or fewer I get to call it a themeless, especially if the related answers aren’t placed symmetrically.  (There’s also a bit of a baseball mini-theme.)

Note: please excuse the poor wording of the clue for 40 Across. The answer is plural.

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