Tag: Themed crossword

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Midi Themed Travel Midi

Travel Midi 3 – India

Words:  42 (11×11)

Average Length:  4.71

PuffinlessTravel link: Here

I loved the tiny bit of India I saw – everything from the frenetic, polyglot bustle of Mumbai to the sun and sights of Goa to the lost-in-time charm of Kerala.  The people are unfailingly friendly, the food is delicious, the energy is high, and despite the Raj, the beer is ice cold.  Today’s puzzle crams in eleven India-related answers (twelve if you count 11 Down), so grab a mango lassi, fire up your pencil/laptop/tablet, and solve away! And be sure to check out the link to my travel blog for some photos and observations.

online | puz | pdf | solution

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Holiday Themed

Remembering MLK

Nothing to do with the puzzle, but a good idea in mid-January

Words:  77 (16×15)

Average Length:  5.14

Here’s a tribute to Dr. King and an expression of gratitude to everyone who strives to carry on his legacy. 

online | puz | pdf | solution

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Travel Midi

Travel Midi 2 – Dubai and Oman

14 Across, Dubai

Words:  42 (11×11)

Average Length:  4.76

Travel blog link

In January 2020 – at the tail end of the Before Times – I went on a cruise from Dubai to Singapore with my extended family.  I was disappointed with Dubai (too many people and cars, too much pollution and ostentation) but really enjoyed our second stop, Oman.  You can read more details (and see some pix) on my travel blog. Meanwhile, enjoy the puzzle!

online | puz | pdf | solution

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Travel Midi

Travel Midi 1 – Antarctica

1 Across/6 Across, seen from deck 4 on our ship, roughly 40 feet above water level

This is the first in what I hope will be a slew of posts marrying three things I love:  crosswords, travel, and photography.  Every Wednesday, I will post a travel-themed midi here, inspired by a photo I’ve taken on my travels. I’ll include a link to a write-up about the place and photo on my travel blog, PuffinlessTravel.wordpress.com.

Link to travel blog write-up

Words: 36 (11×11)

Average Length: 4.89

My brother and I traveled to Antarctica in February 2022.  I wrote about the trip extensively at that time — see here and surrounding posts — and even constructed a penguin-themed crossword in celebration of the trip. 

I’m revisiting Antarctica now because it was visually the most evocative place I’ve ever been. (Plus, I owe it a crossword that recognizes the continent’s many attractions other than penguins!)

online | puz | pdf | solution

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Holiday Themed

Happy New Year 2023

“You don’t need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows” – Bob Dylan, “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” May the breeze be at your back in 2023!

Words:  74

Average Length:  5.05

Thank you all!  I’m grateful to everyone who takes the time to solve my puzzles – the site received 10,000 views in 2022, up 60% from 2021, and solvers in 45 countries tackled my grids this year. 

This puzzle contains my New Year’s wish for you.  I hope you enjoy it.  Keep solving, please share my puzzles with abandon (I’d love to double my views this coming year), and most of all, have a healthy, happy, fun and fulfilling 2023!!!

online | puz | pdf | solution

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Themed

Housesitting

Words:  74

Average Length: 4.65

Picture above: a house (not mine). It’s Hacienda La Compañia in Ecuador, and it’s gorgeous inside and out.

My quite limited artistic abilities are on display in this grid; if nothing else, the title should tell you what the black shape in the middle is.  There’s a small amount of less-than-ideal fill necessitated by the constraints of the theme, so please accept my apologies in advance.  I hope the phenomenally realistic grid design makes up for that.

online | puz | pdf | solution

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Themed

Herd Mentality

Words: 73 (16×15)

Average Length: 5.42

Time for a medium-difficulty themed puzzle relating to some of our fellow fauna.  If you don’t know the song in the clue for 19A, give it a listen.  It’s one of my favorites:  a John Prine classic best known from Bonnie Raitt’s spectacular cover, , it focuses with dry-eyed sensitivity on a woman who’s tired of her life and longing for something or someone better.

Pictured above: Max, part of my 52 Across

online | puz | pdf | solution

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Mostly Musical Mini

Mostly Musical Mini 30

Words:  16

Average Length:  4.88

This is the last MMM, for a while at least.  I’m going to start a new series of midi puzzles after New Year’s.  To wrap up the MMMs, I included a pun I’ve been kicking around for months and have finally decided to inflict upon you (10 Across) as well as a nod (4 Down) to the greatest music mockumentary ever, “This Is Spinal Tap” (narrowly edging “A Mighty Wind”).

online | puz | pdf | solution

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Mostly Musical Mini

Mostly Musical Mini 29

Words:  20

Average Length: 5.00

If two great Russian composers, two legendary British musical artists, two creative heavyweights of R&B, and a beloved talk show host made a puzzle, this would be it. I’ve saved them the trouble of getting together, which is good because the majority of them are no longer with us.

online | puz | pdf | solution

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Themed

Music with Scales

Words:  67 (14×15)

Average Length:  5.07

I’ve been toying with the idea for this theme for a while.  When I finally decided to flesh it out, I realized it needed a non-standard grid size to preserve symmetry, which accounts for the fact that the grid looks like it’s lost weight.  (Your humble constructor certainly hasn’t, having recently returned from Portugal, where food and wine are cherished: see the picture above of cod with roasted potatoes and onions, gleefully consumed at Restaurant Pinoquio, Lisbon.) 

online | puz | pdf | solution