Words: 78
Average Length: 4.92
Difficulty: Like aging gracefully – it can be done but takes some commitment
There’s been a lot of news recently about musicians selling their catalogs for hundreds of millions of dollars. But there’s another way for chronologically advanced rockers to monetize their hits – adapt them to tout cures for various afflictions of the aging. Such as, you may ask? Solve and find out!
Words: 68
Average Length: 5.51
Difficulty: Like one of those mini golf holes where you need to hit the ball up a slope without letting it go down the other side. Kinda hard, but doable.
This one’s friendly enough, I think. A little geometry, some tennis, a couple of expressions of distaste, one of my favorite childhood toys, and quick nods to the objectively best Steely Dan album and a terrific book by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Please enjoy and pass it along. Next week (Feb. 6), look for a themed puzzle built around some rock classics retitled by their aging performers.
Words: 74
Average Length: 4.89
Difficulty: Like deciding what to wear to a dinner with friends who always get spiffed up when they go out, even though you prefer jeans and a sweatshirt
Disclaimer 1: I had never heard of 17 Across until I saw a news story about his passing, yet he was someone whom style mavens consider a giant in the field. I’d been mulling over possible theme entries for a puzzle with 57 Across as a revealer but tabled the idea because I couldn’t come up with a decent grid-spanner to place symmetrically to the revealer. I watched the news story with interest and then realized that not only is the subject’s full name 15 letters long, but he was a towering 6’6” tall. Problem solved, puzzle created!
Disclaimer 2: I have no business constructing a crossword about style. Buried deep in my files, securely under lock and key, is a photo of me in 1976 conducting our high school wind ensemble. I had near-shoulder length bushy hair and was wearing a very loud plaid sports jacket, a tie that must have been 5 inches wide, and orangy-reddish platform shoes. Yes, it was the ‘70s, but still ….
Coming up next (Jan. 29), a moderately challenging themeless.
Words: 66
Average Length: 5.42
Difficulty: Surmountable with a stepladder
After last week’s end-of-the-civilized-world vibe, this week’s grid is kinder, gentler, and a comparative ray of sunshine. Please enjoy!
I figure crossword solvers generally like to read, so I’m linking below to lists of the best fiction and non-fiction books I read in 2021. I’m always happy to get book recommendations, so let me know if you’ve got any, particularly if they’re not well-known.
Words: 70
Average Length: 5.54
Difficulty: Quartzish on the Mohs scale?
I hope you all had a wonderful time last week with friends and family. The seed for this grid was 14 Across, where my brother and I will be going in February! (Oh, the difficulty rating thing: numbers are falsely precise, I think. Henceforth I will come up with other ways of estimating the sweat of your collective brows.) Please enjoy, pass along a link to the puzzle or my site, and be well!
Jeff's Puzzles