Words: 16 (7×7)
Average Length: 4.88
I constructed this one as an exercise: I wanted to make a mini puzzle starting with 1D and ending with 12D. As exercises go, it turned out to be of the not-exactly-breaking-a-sweat variety: to my surprise, filling the grid only took a half hour or so after I’d settled on a grid shape.
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!!!
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.
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!
Words: 92 (17×17)
Average Length: 5.15
Among my many nerdly pursuits, I’m a history buff. I find it fascinating how events unfold, no matter the time period or part of the world. In particular, I’m intrigued by how contingent history is, as the author of this puzzle’s quote emphasized throughout his long, brilliant career. Only in retrospect does history appear pre-ordained.
When I came across the quote in a posthumously published book of the author’s essays, I knew I wanted to build a puzzle around it. The trick was figuring out how to display the quote symmetrically; turns out I needed a super-sized grid and mirror (left-right) rather than the traditional rotational symmetry.
Words: 40 (11×11)
Average Length: 4.65
Today’s puzzle is my entry into the Crosshare monthly midi contest for April, whose theme is “cryptozoology.” Warnings: Dad jokes ahead and some assembly required.
Words: 42 (11×11)
Average Length: 5.00
A few weeks ago, I wrote that I’d clued a certain flower cryptically because I was tired of seeing it clued as “daisy relative.” Then came my granddaughter’s fixation with a certain cartoon mouse and her best friend. A cruciverbalist’s mind is never at rest, so while I was pretending to be 1A for my granddaughter’s amusement – my impression isn’t exactly spot-on, but it does the trick – I decided the 1A/4D combination would be a good seed for today’s midi.
Words: 74
Average Length: 5.05
The two seeds for this puzzle were 39A (a phrase I heard from my son) and 18A (the debate over which amuses me greatly). My original plan was to make this a themeless, but then I realized that 39A could be part of the title of a well-known book about grammar. Poof, a themed puzzle is born.
Words: 76
Average Length: 4.87
I’ve been passionate about baseball since 1969, when the Miracle Mets blew past the 109-win Baltimore Orioles to win the World Series, four games to one. To my then-11-year-old self, this was a triumph of cosmic significance.
I’ve posted a few baseball-themed puzzles over the years, but this year is special: I had the great good fortune to co-construct this puzzle with Jeanne Breen, a super-talented maker of all sorts of word puzzles who is as ardent about baseball as I am. If you’re not already following her site, In Pursuit of Puzzles, you should be!
Jeff's Puzzles