Words: 77 (16×15)
Average Length: 5.25
The seeds for this grid were 21, 41, and 57 Across – the first book in my favorite crime fiction series, an extremely rare baseball feat, and a brilliant music mockumentary, respectively. Throw in a bit of T.S. Eliot and some more terrific books (“All the Light We Cannot See,” “Nickel Boys,” “Tremor”) and a couple other baseball-related clues, and you have a fair idea how I spend my free time.
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.
Words: 73 (16×15)
Average Length: 5.59
I’m trying something different with this write-up because it’s a rainy Saturday afternoon and constructing complete sentences seems like a lot of effort at the moment.
Favorite clues: 25A, 61A
Favorite fill: 10A
Least favorite fill: 4D. I spent a lot of time looking for alternatives, alas to no avail.
Recommendation: 41A – if you like dark, darkly humorous crime fiction, check out the Ian Rankin books mentioned in the clue.
Favorite trivia: 51A
Jeff's Puzzles