Words: 53 (13×13)
Average Length: 5.03
This was going to be a regular-sized (15×15) puzzle, but I only came up with three theme answers, so I downsized a bit. If you’re not familiar with the poem cited in 32 Across, here’s a link. I think it’s simply beautiful.
Words: 70
Average Length: 5.17
The revealer (50 Across) was the seed for this one, then it was just a matter of finding suitable theme answers. Three of them popped into mind almost immediately; the fourth required a bit of searching for something suitable. Enjoy!
Words: 24 (9×9)
Average Length: 5.33
If you’re a fan of the Dan or the Doobies, check out the documentary referenced in the clue for 17 Across. It’s fun, interesting, and chock full of good tunes and “inside baseball” about the surrounding cultural and musical scene.
Words: 82 (19×13)
Average Length: 5.02
This puzzle’s seed – the inscription at 20, 28, and 49 Across – comes from a wonderful joint biography of our second President and his wife by Joseph J. Ellis, First Family: Abigail and [64 Across]. The hope expressed in the inscription has been realized rather less often than its author anticipated, and it’s been utterly dashed by the current incumbent, but it’s still an aspiration worth striving for. (Finding a grid design that would accommodate the quote in a symmetrical way was challenging, which accounts for the unusual dimensions of today’s puzzle.)
Words: 12 (6×6)
Average Length: 4.67
This was a mind-wandering-before-falling-asleep puzzle, when the idea for 1, 2, and 3 Down popped into my head. Over breakfast the next morning – after my normal routine of Wordle, Connections, the Atlantic puzzle, the NYT puzzle, and Simply Daily’s Easy Cryptic Crossword – I filled the grid. Since the seed answers may be hard to get, at least at first, I clued this puzzle to play easier than my usual.
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!
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.
Words: 76
Average Length: 4.84
Kon Nichiwa! Or, if you’re solving this in the morning, ohayo! There’s lots of scrumptious Japanese fill in here, kind of like a 15×15 bento box. Chopsticks optional. Matane (see you soon – in this case, next Wednesday for a midi puzzle entitled “Puns, Anagrams, and General Goofiness”).
If you’d like to read all about my Japan trip, please visit my travel blog, PuffinlessTravel.com. I also just posted an essay there called “Thoughts onTWA (Traveling While American)”. Please check it out if you’re interested.
Words: 136 (21×21)
Average Length: 5.24
Here’s a super-sized, pun-filled, meaty (especially 33 Down) puzzle for your solving pleasure.
I just got back from two weeks in Japan. I’ve got posts about Tokyo, Hakone, Takayama, Kanazawa, Kyoto, and Hiroshima on my travel blog. Please check them out if you’re interested!
Words: 78
Average Length: 4.64
Of all the overseas places I’ve visited – 99 and counting – Ireland is the friendliest. Although I don’t have a bit of Irish blood, I’ve never felt so at home anywhere else. The people are warm, quick to laugh, and hospitable beyond belief, and the scenery’s not too shabby either. And then there’s the literature: on an island of barely over 7 million people, seemingly every tenth person is a prize-winning author, poet, or playwright. (Given that books are my crack, I’ve crammed several Irish writers into this grid and clues, including several of my all-time favorites (Roddy Doyle, Kevin Barry, Maggie O’Farrell).)
Sláinte and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Jeff's Puzzles