Tag: Medium Difficulty

Categories
Travel Midi

Travel Midi 1 – Antarctica

1 Across/6 Across, seen from deck 4 on our ship, roughly 40 feet above water level

This is the first in what I hope will be a slew of posts marrying three things I love:  crosswords, travel, and photography.  Every Wednesday, I will post a travel-themed midi here, inspired by a photo I’ve taken on my travels. I’ll include a link to a write-up about the place and photo on my travel blog, PuffinlessTravel.wordpress.com.

Link to travel blog write-up

Words: 36 (11×11)

Average Length: 4.89

My brother and I traveled to Antarctica in February 2022.  I wrote about the trip extensively at that time — see here and surrounding posts — and even constructed a penguin-themed crossword in celebration of the trip. 

I’m revisiting Antarctica now because it was visually the most evocative place I’ve ever been. (Plus, I owe it a crossword that recognizes the continent’s many attractions other than penguins!)

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Holiday Themed

Happy New Year 2023

“You don’t need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows” – Bob Dylan, “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” May the breeze be at your back in 2023!

Words:  74

Average Length:  5.05

Thank you all!  I’m grateful to everyone who takes the time to solve my puzzles – the site received 10,000 views in 2022, up 60% from 2021, and solvers in 45 countries tackled my grids this year. 

This puzzle contains my New Year’s wish for you.  I hope you enjoy it.  Keep solving, please share my puzzles with abandon (I’d love to double my views this coming year), and most of all, have a healthy, happy, fun and fulfilling 2023!!!

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Set List

Set List 5

Words:  70

Average Length:  5.29

Here’s a concert line-up for you:  the immensely talented Justin Timberlake, metal gods AC/DC, grunge idol Soundgarden, the magically-reformed Beatles, the ever-innovative Police, a reincarnated Otis Redding, more grunge from Nirvana, and closing the show, those giants of American music, the Grateful Dead.  I’d go for sure, and tickets would undoubtedly be cheaper than seeing Taylor Swift.  Enjoy the solve and the tunes!

(The photo has nothing to do with the puzzle. It’s from the Fathala Nature Reserve in Senegal, which I visited last week.)

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Mini Puny but Punny

Puny but Punny 4

Words: 10

Average Length: 4.80

More Wednesday silliness. This one might be a bit more difficult than my other PBP puzzles, but with extra challenge comes extra humor, I hope.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Themed

Housesitting

Words:  74

Average Length: 4.65

Picture above: a house (not mine). It’s Hacienda La Compañia in Ecuador, and it’s gorgeous inside and out.

My quite limited artistic abilities are on display in this grid; if nothing else, the title should tell you what the black shape in the middle is.  There’s a small amount of less-than-ideal fill necessitated by the constraints of the theme, so please accept my apologies in advance.  I hope the phenomenally realistic grid design makes up for that.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Mini Puny but Punny

Puny but Punny 3

Words: 8

Average Length: 4.0

Another bite-sized package of silly puns.  I’m particularly proud/ashamed of 4 Down.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Mini Puny but Punny

Puny but Punny 2

Here’s a fun-sized grab bag of shameless (shameful?) puns.  If you like it, please share the puzzle with your friends. If not, please share it with your enemies.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Themed

Herd Mentality

Words: 73 (16×15)

Average Length: 5.42

Time for a medium-difficulty themed puzzle relating to some of our fellow fauna.  If you don’t know the song in the clue for 19A, give it a listen.  It’s one of my favorites:  a John Prine classic best known from Bonnie Raitt’s spectacular cover, , it focuses with dry-eyed sensitivity on a woman who’s tired of her life and longing for something or someone better.

Pictured above: Max, part of my 52 Across

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Mostly Musical Mini

Mostly Musical Mini 30

Words:  16

Average Length:  4.88

This is the last MMM, for a while at least.  I’m going to start a new series of midi puzzles after New Year’s.  To wrap up the MMMs, I included a pun I’ve been kicking around for months and have finally decided to inflict upon you (10 Across) as well as a nod (4 Down) to the greatest music mockumentary ever, “This Is Spinal Tap” (narrowly edging “A Mighty Wind”).

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Mostly Musical Mini

Mostly Musical Mini 29

Words:  20

Average Length: 5.00

If two great Russian composers, two legendary British musical artists, two creative heavyweights of R&B, and a beloved talk show host made a puzzle, this would be it. I’ve saved them the trouble of getting together, which is good because the majority of them are no longer with us.

online | puz | pdf | solution