Words: 74
Average Length: 5.00
English, notoriously, is a perverse language, where a word’s spelling may be an ambiguous guide to its pronunciation. Fertile fodder for this grid, as I hope you’ll agree.
Please check out my poetry site, It-Could-Be-Verse.com, and my travel blog, PuffinlessTravel.com!
Words: 42 (11×11)
Average Length: 4.86
Having a grandchild has fanned the flames of my already-blazing nostalgia. As I was reading to her last week – “Dear Zoo,” a wonderful book as long as you don’t focus on the fact that a zoo is willy-nilly sending elephants and lions to children upon request – it occurred to me that her elementary school experience will be vastly different from mine. And thinking about mine triggered a wave of visceral recollections about the look and feel of the contents of my desk. Hence this puzzle.
One more note: my 1st and 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Bonder, who is well into her 90s, is friends with me on Facebook and is as smart and admirable as ever. Mrs. Bonder, you’ve been a lifelong inspiration!
Words: 42 (11×11)
Average Length: 4.71
I never saw the movie containing the line that underlies this puzzle, but I know the music and much of the plot through sheer osmosis. I hope you enjoy the puzzle, particularly the handful of “?”-designated clues.
Words: 74
Average Length: 5.11
Cruciverbalists talk about “seeds” – the entries around which a grid is constructed. Today’s puzzle has five quite literal (and musical) seeds. I hope you like it, or at least that it grows on you!
Please check out my new poetry site, It-Could-Be-Verse.com. For Memorial Day, I posted this poem that describes a visit to the American Military Cemetery in Normandy. Recent posts on my travel blog, PuffinlessTravel.com, highlight a trip to view paleolithic art in France and Spain, with side trips to Luxembourg and Andorra.
Words: 41 (11×11)
Average Length: 5.02
I’d been toying with the idea for this puzzle for a while and finally decided to construct it during one of those games where the Nats offense apparently has better things to do than hit. After several futile attempts at fitting the theme answers into a symmetrical grid, I decided to embrace asymmetry (though if you don’t peer too closely it kind of looks symmetrical). I hope you enjoy the result!
Words: 74
Average Length: 5.16
Think of a dessert menu created by the people who come up with punny names for IPAs. I hope you find it a sweet solve … and just in case you’re solving with your kids (hey, it could happen), look out for 52 Across.
Please check out my new poetry site, It-Could-Be-Verse.com. And read about my recent visit to see the paloelithic art in caves in France and Spain on my travel blog, PuffinlessTravel.com.
Words: 42 (11×11)
Average Length: 5.00
Strolling along Penny Lane while on a Beatles-themed tour of Liverpool was a thrill I’ll never forget. Every time I’ve heard the song since, the landmarks in the lyrics leap clearly to mind. Last week, as I was trolling for ideas for a mini/midi, I started humming the wonderful piccolo trumpet solo and the grid fell into place.
Words: 15
Average Length: 4.93
This one may be a bit more challenging than most of my minis, but I liked the idea of connecting 7 Across with 5 Down and 7 Down. In fact, 7 Across/7 Down was one of my favorite toys when I was growing up, long before the digital age. Believe it or not, they used to be made out of wood!
Words: 72
Average Length: 5.08
Here’s a puzzle celebrating one of my favorite months (not just because it’s my birth month as well as my daughter’s), May. It’s mid-Spring in the DC area, everything is in bloom, Summer’s triple-Hs haven’s set in yet, and in a normal year the Caps would be in the playoffs (in a highly abnormal year the Wizards would be in the playoffs).
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