Tag: Difficult crossword

Categories
Themed

Down Under (Guest Puzzle)

Words: 78

Average Length: 4.82

Difficulty: Like a Drake Passage crossing?

My brother Eric, Nanortalik, Greenland, 2010

puz | pdf | solution

Here’s a mid-week bonus: a themed puzzle crafted by my brother Eric, celebrating a certain land mass where he and I will be traveling in February (assuming Omicron and all other Greek letters cooperate).

Eric is an astrophysicist, world traveler (>110 countries visited), multi-linguist, and avid consumer of films, books, and spicy vegetarian food. I learn something from all of his puzzles – including at least four new words/terms in this one – so prepare yourself for a challenge and emerge enlightened!

Categories
Themeless

Themeless 21

Words:  68

Average Length:  5.53

Difficulty:  5 out of 5

Pettah fruit and vegetable market, Colombo, Sri Lanka (see 14D)

This one’s pretty tough, particularly the 1A/6&7D combination.  If you’ve never had 1A, you owe it to yourself to try some, preferably washed down with a Medalla.  I first ran across 7D while learning to play Rhapsody in Blue way back in high school.   There’s a nasty 7D that I never quite got.

puz | pdf | solution

If you finish the puzzle, reward yourself with a 1 Down, 16 Down, or 45 Across.  If you don’t finish it, console yourself with the same. 

Please share this puzzle throughout the metaverse, link to this site, and otherwise give me some free publicity.  Next up (11/21) will be a medium-difficulty, Thanksgiving-themed puzzle.  Thanks, and enjoy!

Categories
Goofy Themeless

Goofy Themeless 2

Words:  68

Average Length:  5.74

Difficulty: You bet!

Delivery van for a beer brewed by the monks of the Monastery of St. Norbert in Prague. This has nothing to do with the puzzle, other than being goofy in its own right. I was, alas, unable to sample their handiwork.

Back by popular, um, indifference?  dismay? … a themeless where, to paraphrase Whose Line Is It Anyway, almost everything is made up and your time doesn’t matter.  The rules are simple:

–           All 3- and 4- letter words are defined straightforwardly

–           Longer words may be:

(1) Normal words clued with little or no regard to their usual meaning.  For example, in my first Goofy Themeless (posted 6/21/21), the answer to the clue “’It’s a boy; I can ___,’ said the geneticist with the supersensitive nose,” was SMELLY; or

(2) Made-up words or phrases.  For example, in my first Goofy Themeless, the answer to the clue “self-referential, laxative cereal” was METAMUESLI.

puz | pdf | solution

If you like this puzzle and didn’t solve the first one, now you’ve got a head start!

Please enjoy and share.  Next up (10/24) will be a “normal” themeless.

Categories
Themeless

April 7 Themeless

puz | pdf | solution

I hope you enjoy this 68-word themeless. A couple of solving notes:

My favorite clues are 60 Across and 55 Down. 47 Down refers to “The Virtuoso Pianist, written by the answer. If you’ve ever taken piano lessons, you probably know this — and remember it as the stuff of nightmares. If you’ve never taken piano lessons, the answer almost certainly will be unfamiliar, but perhaps the crosses will help. My apologies for the dreck fill at 20 Down, but needs must, and just be thankful I didn’t clue it as suggested (jokingly, I think) by my astrophysicist brother: “quark components of a Sigma baryon.”