Words: 70
Average Length: 5.23
Nuns, basketball players, rabbis, anesthesiologists, and a game of Musical Chairs all make an appearance – doubly, or even triply so. Have fun!
Category: Themed
Words: 42 (11×11)
Average Length: 5.05
Whenever I travel to a new place, I try a local beer – solely as research for my travel blog, of course! I keep an online photo album of the beers; currently there are 53 pictures, and I intend to add to that on my upcoming trip to the South Pacific.
Cracking a cold one isn’t necessary to enjoy this puzzle, but the grid might put you in that kind of mood.
I just found out I misspelled 19D – it’s short one “n”. This was due solely to negligence, not to over-imbibing in any of the theme answers. Just think of it as a light beer. Forgive me!!!
Words: 23 (9×8)
Average Length: 4.87
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: this is by far the ugliest grid I’ve ever designed. Alas, after far too much time trying to fit what I wanted into a symmetrical, esthetically pleasing mini-midi grid, I gave up and settled for what you see.
Having said that, I hope you enjoy solving the clues, just like 9 Across and 3 Down. And if crime fiction is your thing, I can’t recommend Ian Rankin’s Rebus series highly enough. He just released the 25th book in the series, and they’re all terrific.
Categories
A Little Dot’ll Do Ya
Words: 76
Average Length: 4.74
Here’s a mind-expanding puzzle, including a little dirt on an ancient Roman poet, some Yiddish, Weird Al, and – oh yeah – a potential acid trip.
I’m posting this a day early because I’m getting on a cruise ship this afternoon and have no idea what the Internet access will be like.
If anyone’s interested, I’m on yet another trip – so far I’ve visited Monaco and Èze (France); the links are to write-ups on my PuffinlessTravel blog.
Words: 48 (12×12)
Average Length: 5.08
“Before and After” is a time-honored Jeopardy category. This puzzle introduces a twist, as the clue to 17 Across explains: the last word of 17A and the first word of 31A together satisfy a part of the clue. I hope you like it – I have another puzzle in this vein coming up in a few weeks.
Categories
Oh My 46 Down
Words: 67 (14×15)
Average Length: 5.25
This one’s definitely rated “G,” as you’ll see when you solve it. As a bonus hint, there’s a bit of Guevara in each theme answer.
If anyone’s interested, I just posted here about a fun few days spent in Toronto last week.
Words: 30
Average Length: 4.67
1 Across was the seed. Originally, I planned to make a technology/mythology hybrid puzzle but I couldn’t come up with enough decent theme answers, so I just went full-on mythology.
Categories
The Great Escape
Words: 74
Average Length: 5.00
As the note to the puzzle says, this is a tribute puzzle for … our 15-year old Ford Escape Hybrid. It’s still going strong! I’ve also got a recommendation for you: if you like birds, drawings of birds, or just plain good nature writing, check out the book in the clue for 23 Across.
I got back several days ago from a wonderful week spent hiking and eating in Iceland. There are several posts about the trip – and lots of pictures – on my PuffinlessTravel blog. Please check it out if you’re interested!
Jeff's Puzzles 