Words: 28 (9×9)
Average Length: 5.00
The two top row entries were the seeds (so to speak). My favorite clue, though, is 21 Across.
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Tag: Crossword
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Without Excuses
Here’s a different kind of mini for you. I think it should play on the easy side.
As sometimes happens, the Daily Crossword Links email missed the puzzle I posted Sunday (Themeless 87). Here’s a link to that puzzle if you’d like to solve it (and I sure hope you will!).
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Themeless 87
Words: 72
Average Length: 5.28
When cluing answers that are phrases (20A and 47A in this case), I always wonder how other constructors might clue them. I guess it’s another way of considering whether common phrases really do mean the same thing to everyone.
Other than semantic speculation, I’ll just add that (1) 26A is a really cool factoid, and (2) 42D is based on repeated personal experience.
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Make It Big
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Keep ‘Em Separated
Words: 76
Average Length: 4.71
Word ladder puzzles have been around forever, but somehow, this is the first one I’ve ever constructed. It’s also a pangram, with help from 9 Down and 21 Across. Enjoy!
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APR, Fools
Words: 18 (7×7)
Average Length: 5.00
Once I had 1 and 16 Across in place, the rest of the puzzle (including the title) came readily. 14 Down is the type of junk fill I try to avoid, but I figured I’d own it here by tying it to the photo. If you’re a train enthusiast, a Thomas the Tank Engine fan (or parent thereof), or just love riding in comfort through beautiful scenery, the Isle of Man is fantastic. It’s an easy hop from Ireland, England, and Scotland and worth spending a couple of days. Here are two posts (1 and 2) I wrote about a weekend visit.
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Themeless 86
Words: 72
Average Length: 5.25
This puzzle had several seeds: 23 Across (I’d recently listened to CSNY’s “Almost Cut My Hair”), 4 Down (I’d recently listened to Men at Work’s “Down Under”), and 55 Across, a term I learned not from a song – though it would make for an interesting lyric – but from a police officer/driver ed instructor. (No, I was not in “traffic school!”)
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Tank Yu for Solving
Words: 18
Average Length: 5.00
1 Across was the seed. The idea behind it is that you open your mind to daily moments of peace, calm, amusement, wonder – whatever makes you feel gratitude. It’s a simple yet effective attitude adjustment, blunting the effect of “triggers,” calming stress, and promoting happiness. And the more I practice it, the easier it gets to recognize and assimilate these joyful moments.
I’ll give you an example: a couple of days ago, I was walking one of our dogs. In itself, this is a source of 1 Across if I focus on him exploring the world instead of thinking about the things I have to do. We passed a house where young kids were shrieking with delight while kicking a ball around the backyard. I couldn’t see the kids, but the enchantment of their play wove a blanket of bliss that warmed me for hours. Try, it, you’ll like it!
Oh yeah, like the title says, “Tank Yu” for solving – and for putting up with my digressions!
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Penguins They Ain’t
Words: 18
Average Length: 5.00
Until last month when I visited Iceland, I had an unblemished track record of never seeing 1 Across in the wild, even in places where they normally gather by the thousands. Hence the now-inaccurate name of my travel blog, [1 Across]less Travel. As any self-respecting cruciverbalist/travel blogger would, I had to commemorate the momentous occasion of seeing flocks of 1 Across with a puzzle.
By the way, if you want to solve an actual penguin-focused puzzle, here’s one from 2022.
One last self-promoting note: I recently posted two new poems on my poetry blog, It-Could-Be-Verse.com. One is about a visit to Hong Kong, and the other is about a visit to Vietnam.
Words: 18
Average Length: 4.89
1 and 7 Across were the seed entries. I spent far too long trying to configure them and fill them in a way that worked, then clued everything, then relaxed – and realized I’d violated a cardinal rule of construction: avoid duplication of entries or parts thereof. Alas, a certain 2-letter word appears three times in this mini, but what are indie puzzles for if you can’t break the rules once in a while? So I decided to embrace the iconoclasm in the title. (Also, my apology if you find 4 Down offensive. But if the sandwich fits ….)
Jeff's Puzzles 