Tag: Music

Categories
Themed

Trainspotting

Photo taken on the Isle of Man, July 2022

Words: 75

Average Length: 4.85

Today’s puzzle is straightforward, so I’ll devote the write-up to two musical links.  The first, “Girlfriend Is Better” (see 17 Across) is from the Talking Heads. I saw the movie in 17 Across half a dozen times after it came out.  The second, Chick Corea’s brilliant “Spain,” features Bill Watrous on 3 Down, along with Hubert Laws on flute, George Benson on guitar, Stanley Clarke on bass, Lenny White on drums, and Corea on keyboards.  Please listen to the whole thing – if you’re like me, it’ll energize you face for hours – but definitely check out Watrous’s solo (its starts at 2:42) if you want to be amazed at what can be done with a 3 Down.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Music Themed

Not Exactly Barry White

Statue of Freddy Mercury, Montreux, Switzerland (Oct. 2025) (see 19 Across)

Words: 72

Average Length: 5.25

Musical grammar usually encompasses things like harmony, melody, and rhythm.  This puzzle, however, takes the term literally. 

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Mostly Musical Mini

Mostly Musical Mini 34

My dog (Max) peeking through a chair, with our piano in the background

Words: 16 (7×7)

Average Length: 5.00

This one goes from the Renaissance to today, with stops for Vivaldi, Tina Turner, a famous Irish playwright, and a classic French film. 

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
Themed

Sole Music

See 34 Down (Photo taken December 2024)

Words: 74

Average Length: 4.95

Over the years, I’ve constructed puzzles about music and food, music and fathers, music and the rainbow, music and boys, music and women, music and plants, music and food, music and reptiles, music and transportation, music and weather, music and the letter z, musicians’ side hustles, music and aging, musicians opening restaurants (one of my favorite puzzles), music and art, music and animals, music and flowers, and  “American” music, not to mention 33 “mostly musical minis” and 5 “set list” puzzles.

What’s left?  How about music and gaits, the theme of today’s offering.   So run, walk, or whatever, and enjoy the solve!

online | puz | pdf | solution

In memoriam of the death of Pope Francis, a great and good man, here’s a link to a tongue-in-cheek puzzle I posted about the  papacy 4 years ago, which in turn was based on a puzzle I constructed in 2013 upon Pope France’s elevation.

Categories
Themed

Paternal Music

See 25 Down. Photo taken in Nusfjord, Norway, June 2017.

Words: 73

Average Length: 5.15

This grid is inspired by common ground between a reggaeton star, an indie solo artist, and a nu metal band. 

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Mini Music

Happy Songs

Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam – a place you’d find on an 8 Across. Photo taken March 2024.

Words: 18 (7×7)

Average Length: 5.00

After the election debacle, finding my mood rather bleak, I put together an ever-evolving playlist of songs that always lift my spirits.  Some of those songs (starred in the clues) will make it into a series of Happy Songs grids, of which this is the first.  If you’d like to see the playlist, email me at JeffsPuzzles@gmail.com.

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Themed

Apologies to Nick et al

See 27 Down. Photo taken in St. Emilion, France, April 2023

Words: 76

Average Length: 4.71

A couple of months ago I posted a mini, “Entertaining Women,” whose theme entries were bands with names containing the word “Girls.”  I figured I’d construct a matching mini for the following week featuring band names with the word “Boys.”  Once I started collecting theme answers, though, I realized there were more than enough such band names for a full-sized puzzle.

A word about the grid:  I break one of the fundamental rules of crossword construction – the revealer includes a word that’s in the clue for each theme answer.  Apologies to any purists!

Any resemblance of the black squares in the middle of the grid to a man is unintentional and, frankly, beyond my capabilities if I’d tried. But it’s still kind of cool given the theme!

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Midi Themed

Name That Tune

Praça do Comercio, Lisbon (see 1 Across) (picture taken Oct. 2022)

Words:  42 (11×11)

Average Length:  4.81

This puzzle is my entry to the Crosshare monthly midi contest (theme:  music; I promise I didn’t pay anyone to choose that, but thanks, Sommersmith!).  If you’re not yet familiar with Crosshare (crosshare.org), it’s a wonderful online community for independent crossword constructors, as well as for people who enjoy solving puzzles by independent crossword constructors. 

online | puz | pdf | solution

Categories
Themed

Forecasts in Four Four Time

Words:  79 (15×16 grid)

Average Length:  4.96

The southern tip of the Andes in Tierra del Fuego (see 34 Across)

To quote the endlessly quotable Bob Dylan, “you don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind blows.”  (“Subterranean Homesick Blues”).  A musical meteorologist will do just fine, as this puzzle reveals.

online | puz | pdf | solution