Words: 72
Average Length: 5.19
This one shouldn’t be too tough, but don’t fall! I was happy to work in 60 Across – my team’s glory days ended (temporarily, right?) four years ago, but they went out with a bang! And I just realized the unintentional but at least slightly amusing symmetry between 1 Across and 66 Across.
Words: 10
Average Length: 4.80
Don’t get lost in 1 Across. (“Danger, Will Robinson” – and if that means something to you, you’re at least as old as I am!) Please enjoy, and come back Sunday for a medium-difficulty themed puzzle.
[Photo: see 1D; taken in the Hungarian Parliament, July 2023]
Words: 68
Average Length: 5.74
I set out to make a low word-count themeless with very few 3-letter entries and a minimum of crosswordese. I hope you like the result – there are quite a few misdirects, so this one is likely to play on the difficult side.
As I say in the clue for 37 Across, I encourage everyone to read anything that Alan Lightman writes. He’s a physicist with the pen of a poet. His latest book, The Transcendent Brain, is a lyrical, personal exploration of how science leaves room for spirituality.
Words: 70
Average Length: 5.34
I like books in the way Justice Kavanaugh likes beer. I read a hundred or so a year (not sure what % of his beer consumption that is, but it’s roughly 1000% of mine, being more of a Scotch aficionado). When I saw this marvelous quote from 34 Across I thought, as kids today, or yesterday, or possibly last month, say/said: “it me.” Hence the puzzle.
Words: 10
Average Length: 4.60
I guess I could have posted this in either April or September (as you’ll see once you solve), but as we are once again beset by smoky air, heat, and hurricanes, this is as good a time as any. If any solvers have personal knowledge that the clue for 5 Down is wrong, please let me know!
Words: 11
Average Length: 4.73
I’ve seen this concept done as a word ladder, but a mini-puzzle doesn’t allow for such sleight of hand. Nothing fancy here; I clued 1 Down the way I did because that show perfected the technique of starting out fabulous, keeping it up for three seasons, then cratering. Just my opinion, of course.
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: 74
Average Length: 5.11
We all have our yearnings, some odder than others (I would pay good money for a fresh box of Product 19, which Kelloggs discontinued several years ago). Here are five fictional fetishes, some of which (I’m looking at you, 35 Across) might stretch wordplay to unwise lengths.
Jeff's Puzzles