Words: 73 (16×15)
Average Length: 5.37
I’m posting this a day earlier than usual because I’m heading out of town to celebrate my niece’s wedding. Congratulations, 13A and Marco!!!
Categories
Themeless 129
Category: Themeless
Words: 16
Average Length: 5.00
The seeds for this puzzle were the title clue (used in 5D), which came to me out of the blue the other day, and 8A, which I learned from a Norwegian gentleman a few weeks ago. The title clue is cryptic. If you solve the online version, there’s a conventional clue you can reveal. Otherwise, here’s the conventional clue in retrograde: rotcelloc niar.
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Themeless 127
Words: 72
Average Length: 5.31
The seeds for today’s puzzle were 20A (something I actually do say quite a bit; I even have a t-shirt to that effect) and 35A (which was going to be the revealer in a themed puzzle containing the examples in the clue as answers, but I couldn’t come up with two more themers).
I’m posting this on a Thursday instead of my usual Saturday because I’m heading off on another adventure: a day or so in Copenhagen followed by five days in Poland (Warsaw and Krakow), three days in Prague, a Viking cruise on the Elbe River, and a couple of days in Berlin. In the past I’ve continued to post puzzles while out of the country, but I decided to take a break this time, so look for my next puzzle post in mid-May.
In the meantime, please follow my travel posts if you’re so inclined: go to http://puffinlesstravel.com/ for lots of photos and some (hopefully) entertaining prose. If you like what you see there, please “follow” me!
Categories
Themeless 126
Words: 72
Average Length: 5.31
I began constructing this grid by deciding I would put a 12/15/12 stack across the middle, as one of my favorite constructors, Tim Croce, often does. (If you like super-challenging themeless puzzles, he’s one of the best in the biz. He posts new puzzles every Tuesday and Friday evening at 6 eastern time on his site, Club 72.)
Next step was coming up with an appropriate 15 (37 Across), and I’d happened to use this exact phrase about half an hour before starting construction. (Suffice it to say I am in daily contact with a few “half-empty glass” types.) The first 12 (34 Across) is something that Is not so widely known and practiced as it should be. Hit the backbeats, people! The second 12 (40 Across) was a great pitcher, but he made the puzzle on the basis of the pun in the clue. Enjoy!
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Themeless 125
Categories
Themeless 124
Words: 68
Average Length: 5.62
Here’s a wide-ranging themeless (food, one of my favorite songs, classical Greece, religion, geography, math, you name it and I’ve tossed it in here). I hope the ingredients combine deliciously, or at least, palatably!
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Themeless 123
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Themeless 122
Categories
Themeless 121
Words: 70 (17×13)
Average Length: 5.46
38A (repurposed from a themed puzzle that wouldn’t come together) and 10D were the seeds for today’s puzzle. Sorry for a couple of brand names infiltrating the grid – I hope they’re well-known enough not to be stumbling blocks.
Categories
Themeless 120
Words: 70
Average Length: 5.34
4D and 24D were the seeds for this puzzle. As always, I had a lot of fun with the cluing and, as I always hope, learned something along the way (see 42D).
Jeff's Puzzles 