Tag: Medium Difficulty

Categories
Themed

Jazzy You Know Who

See 49 Across. Photo taken in Kotor, Montenegro, Oct. 2024

Words: 78

Average Length: 4.74

You don’t have to solve crosswords for long before figuring out that some names come up over and over again.  Well, more accurately, some first or last names (ENO, ISSA, ALOU, ESAI …). 

One of the most commonly used names – a first name, in this case – belongs to a wonderful singer who deserves to have her full name, along with the song that is often used to clue her, contained in a puzzle.  This puzzle, in fact.  And, because that song can be read as an imperative, I decided to take its instruction to heart in more than two dozen of this puzzle’s entries.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Midi

Go With the Flow

Here’s an additional clue for 16 Down. Photo taken in Cologne, Oct. 2019.

Words: 28 (9×9)

Average Length: 4.93

The seeds for this puzzle, not surprisingly, were 4 and 24 Across, which make use of the title in different ways.  14 Across also was a seed, just because I like the logic of it.  Fitting  4 Down in was serendipitous – or therendipetouth, as Sylvester would say. 

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Themed

Streaming Tunes

Te Anau, New Zealand (Feb. 2024)

Words: 79 (16×15)

Average Length: 5.01

Every so often, when angling for a theme, I cast my line once again into the musical deeps.  For today’s puzzle, I landed four tunes (18, 25, 41, and 52 Across) whose titles fit nicely into a piece that premiered three centuries ago (66 Across).  I hope the solving experience is smooth sailing!

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Themeless

Themeless 108

A different kind of 55 Down. Photo taken in Lisbon, Portugal, Nov. 2022.

Words: 70

Average Length: 5.43

Here’s a straightforward themeless, clued a bit more gently than my usual.  Note on the clue for 20 Across: that’s what “puttanesca” means.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Midi Uncategorized

What Are They Worth?

Parrots seen last Tuesday at an aviary near the Port of Cartagena.

Words: 24 (9×9)

Average Length: 4.67

I’ve been wondering about the difference in valuation between 10A and 4D.  Is it because we value our own thoughts more highly than others value them?  (Anything to avoid thinking about the state of the world!)

online | puz | pdf | solution

I just returned from a cruise that took me from San Diego to Miami. If anyone is interested, I’ve been blogging about it on my PuffinlessTravel site. Here are links to the posts:

Aboard the Oceania Insignia

Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo

Zihuatanejo

Guatemala – The Tour That Didn’t Happen

Costa Rica – Pura Vida!

Transiting the Panama Canal – Bay Gulls and Locks

Cartagena, Colombia

Grand Cayman

Sailing the Oceania Insignia from San Diego to Miami

Categories
Themed

In the Beginning

I went through the Panama Canal last Monday. Here’s a picture of the Miraflores Locks with a huge ship in front of ours.

Words: 72

Average Length: 5.14

I set myself a construction challenge on this one – come up with a grid where the revealer crosses all four theme answers.  I succeeded in doing so, but at the expense of including a passel of 3s.  Have at it, and enjoy!

If you’re a fan of all manner of word puzzles – crosswords, Rows Gardens, acrostics, snake charmers, spirals – do yourself a favor and check out Jeanne Breen’s brilliant new puzzle site, In Pursuit of Puzzles.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Midi

Universally Admired

Nothing to do with the puzzle. I visited a glassmaking factory outside Cabo San Lucas the other day and was captivated by the colors.

Words: 30 (9×11)

Average Length: 5.27

I was inspired to create this puzzle after seeing pictures from the 12A/3D space telescope installation.  I’d never heard of 12A before – she was a brilliant astronomer who was also a fierce advocate for women in science.  She received many honors during her lifetime, but was snubbed for a Nobel Prize, apparently because of her gender.  Maybe she’ll get one posthumously, but at least her name now graces a facility that should continue to expand on her lifelong work helping us better understand the cosmos.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Supersized Themed

Cook the Books

Leaving San Diego on the Oceania Insignia, en route to Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia, Grand Cayman, and Miami. I’m writing about the trip on my PuffinlessTravel blog – check it out if you’re interested.

Words: 91 (17×17)

Average Length: 5.32

A super-sized collection of silly literary puns – how can you resist?

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Midi

For Brian and Sly

Reykjavik, Iceland, July 2024. Nothing to do with the puzzle.

Words: 41 (12×11)

Average Length: 5.41

We lost two more rock icons in June – Brian Wilson, the creative force behind the Beach Boys, and the incomparable Sly Stone, producer, bandleader, songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist who created some of the catchiest, funkiest,  most socially powerful  hits of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.  I picked one well-known song from each of these geniuses as the seeds for this puzzle. 

If you’re intrigued by Sly Stone, there’s a terrific documentary from Questlove about him: “Sly Lives! A/k/a the Burden of Black Genius.” And if you haven’t seen it yet, please check out Questlove’s “Summer of Soul,” a documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival with some of the greatest music you’ll ever hear.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Meta Midi

Show Me a Sign

Delos, with 2 Down in the background. Photo taken July 2014.

Words: 42 (11×11)

Average Length:  4.81

I’ve never tried constructing a meta before, and this is a pretty basic one as metas go.  The answer is a classic rock song from one of my favorite groups.  If your classic rock knowledge is, um, underdeveloped, feel free to search online – or just click on this link for the music video.

I’ll reveal the answer in Saturday’s blog post.

online | puz | pdf | solution