Words: 74
Average Length: 5.03
Here’s a relatively easy puzzle with a literal title. As you’ll see from the picture, I’ve got new JeffsPuzzles.com head wear – the older caps bore an unfortunate color resemblance to a cap supporting he-who-must-not-be-named-but-should-soon-be-in-prison – which, in addition to serving as a bonus clue to 30 Down, is the apex of nerd chic. Email me at jeffspuzzles@gmail.com if you’d like me to send you one ABSOLUTELY FREE!
Words: 72
Average Length: 5.33
Yet another music recommendation for y’all (actually a double): The clue for 28 Down mentions Drive-By Truckers, an excellent band and one-time home of the phenomenally talented Jason Isbell. His album “Southeastern” is way up on my most-played list; it’s filled with emotionally raw, evocative, brave, rocking, instantly memorable songs. You’re welcome, again.
Words: 79 (15×16 grid)
Average Length: 4.96
To quote the endlessly quotable Bob Dylan, “you don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind blows.” (“Subterranean Homesick Blues”). A musical meteorologist will do just fine, as this puzzle reveals.
Words: 76
Average Length: 5.03
Difficulty: Like summer reading (not the school variety)
Here’s a gentle grid to usher in August, prime time for lazing in the sun with a book, listening to the waves lap against the shore, and looking up an hour later to realize you haven’t read a page but instead fell asleep and are now approaching lobsterhood. Stay sunscreened, my friends!
If you like my puzzles, it’d be great if you would “subscribe” to my site. You’ll be informed whenever I drop a new puzzle, and I’ll possibly show up a little higher in search results. Win Win.
Last self-promotion: If you like to travel please check out (and follow if you like) my newly resurrected travel blog, Puffinless Travel, here. I’ve recently added write-ups of a trip to Antarctica in Feb. 2022 and a hiking trip in Wales in July 2022.
Words: 70
Average Length: 5.20
Difficulty: Like swinging convincingly in 5/4 time
On my best days playing alto sax, my tone was a pale imitation of Paul Desmond’s crystal, liquid, heavenly sound. Desmond was a marvel – a soloist whose intelligence and grace made his lines seem inevitable, and a composer of one of the very greatest jazz classics (see 60 Across), track three on the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s hugely influential Time Out album (one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time). If you know the tune, the puzzle should be medium difficulty; if you don’t, it’ll be tougher. Check out this live performance. Desmond’s sinuous solo builds tension and release over a hypnotic, two-chord drone (Eb minor-Bb minor). Brubeck follows with a brief, mysterious piano solo far removed from his usual crashing chords. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the puzzle – and I really hope you enjoy the tune and give Desmond and the Dave Brubeck Quartet a listen.
Words: 74
Average Length: 5.11
Difficulty: More moderate than the temperature outside, that’s for sure
July 4 was a big deal to some of our Founding Fathers, just not in the way you think. Solve and find out what I mean.
I’m taking a short break from posting while I spend a few days hiking in Wales and then exploring the Isle of Man. I’ll have a new puzzle up on July 13. Stay cool!
Words: 76
Average Length: 4.87
Difficulty: Gently moderate
Ah, June in DC: The gnats are swarming, the Nats are in last place, and natch, I’ve got a June-themed puzzle for you. Please enjoy and share!
I saw 16 Down on SNL last month and was blown away by her talent. Of course, I’ve heard her on the radio many times, but seeing her live underscored how amazing she is. Then it occurred to me that a seemingly inordinate number of musicians/compositions have “Zs” in their names, ranging from pop to rock to opera to jazz to conductors, and that there ought to be a grid acknowledging that observation. Et voila!
Words: 74
Average Length: 5.16
Difficulty: I tried to make this easier than usual. That effort may have met with “incomplete success,” as President Carter once said.
A crossword puzzle is an ineffective means of getting a message across, but I’m a Democrat, so I come by that naturally. Here’s the point:
For years, Republicans have used the “pro-life” label to oppose abortion, with mounting success at the state and federal levels. Yet the Republicans’ conception of life is that it begins at fertilization and apparently ends at birth. As rabidly as the Rs yell that abortion is murder, they reflexively oppose laws that would curb gun violence, promote breathable air and drinkable water, guarantee affordable health care, housing, and education, ensure security from hunger, etc., etc., etc.
The Democrats must pound this message home: You can’t be “pro-life” while sabotaging the health and welfare of the living. Put that on billboards, TV ads, t-shirts, whatever … just get the point across!
Solve online | puz | pdf | solution
Words: 72
Average Length: 5.00
Difficulty: A beach read, but on a somewhat windy day
I’m fascinated by the weekly “By the Book” column in the New York Times. If you don’t know it, every week a guest author responds to several questions about favorites, preferences, organization of their book collections, etc. One of the questions is something like “If you could invite any 3 authors, living or dead, to a dinner party, who would they be and why?”
Why stop at 3, I thought, and why not make a puzzle about it? Even better, why not have the theme entries be the most appropriate dishes for each author to bring? (The party morphed into a potluck.)
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