Tag: Themed crossword

Categories
Holiday Themed

I’ll Never Be Your Feast of Burden

Words:  76

Average Length:  4.82

Difficulty:  2.5 out of 5

puz | pdf | solution

Here’s a gentle, Thanksgiving-themed puzzle.  Best wishes for a scrumptious, safe, and stress-resistant holiday.  Enjoy!

From the Nov. 20 Washington Post. I saw the final band in Junior High School. They played in the cafeteria. This has nothing to do with the puzzle, unless your Thanksgiving dinner turns dramatic.

Two solving notes: (1) the song at 9/25 Down is from the 1969 movie of the same name.  The movie has aged poorly, but I still love the song – all 18 minutes of it.

(2) In researching a clue for 61 Across – I ended up going with the obvious – I came across some fascinating background:  In 1939, Federated Department Stores (61A’s parent) prevailed on FDR to move Thanksgiving up a week so there’d be more time after the holiday for Christmas shopping.  The Republicans objected (shocking!), and for a couple of years there was basically a Democratic Thanksgiving and a Republican Thanksgiving.   In 1941 Congress passed a law fixing Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November. 

Categories
Themed

Symbolic Expressions

Words:  77 (16×15 grid)

Average Length:  5.14

Difficulty:  2-4 out of 5

The difficulty range depends on whether certain mathematical/physical symbols are all Greek to you.  Helpful hints/spoilers for the theme answers are below the photo.   I hope you enjoy the puzzle.  Next week (11/14) brings a challenging Themeless.

puz | pdf | solution

Ruins of the Library at 38 Down

HINTS/SPOILERS:

19A:  Psi is the symbol for the wave function.

26A:  Lambda is the symbol for wavelength

57A:  Rho is the symbol for density

60A:  Nu is the symbol for degrees of freedom

Categories
Music Themed

American Songbook

puz | pdf | solution

Word Count:  69 (14×15 grid)

Average Length:  5.04

Difficulty:  2 out of 5

38A, flowing under the Ponte Vecchio, the oldest bridge in Florence

Here’s an easy holiday puzzle for y’all. To mark the 4th, I thought I’d focus on “American” music (gee, that’s a surprise, says anyone who’s solved one of my puzzles).  I put “American” in quotes because the music we play, listen to, and create is a hodgepodge, an olio if you will (yes, you can use the word outside of crosswords) of indigenous, European, African, Latin American, and Asian influences.  We harmonize our disparate heritages in our music. 

In brainstorming – never ideating, which is a horrible word and should be banned from crosswords despite its friendly orthography – possible theme answers, I found the three here. Not only are they symmetrical; they illustrate my “olio point” in an appropriately tinted manner. 

Finally, one specific comment on the puzzle:  Given the theme, I had to give a shout out to Ms. Russell in 50D, as the co-star (with husband Matthew Rhys) of one of the greatest shows in television history.