Words: 28 (9×9)
Average Length: 5.29
I didn’t start out intending to make a plea for equitable pay for teachers, but it’s a message that can’t be emphasized strongly enough. Teachers are front-line workers facing steep odds, including the risk of being fired for informing children about any number of issues that shouldn’t be controversial but somehow are in our narrow-minded nation. They are life preservers and life enhancers, and they should be compensated accordingly!
Words: 75 (16×15)
Average Length: 5.12
As the mugs say, “Keep Calm and Carry On,” which could have been another theme entry except that it’s too long and then I’d have had to retitle the puzzle. While there’s no guarantee that solving will produce a feeling of well-being, it couldn’t hurt!
Words: 18 (7×7)
Average Length: 5.00
As you can probably tell, the seed for this puzzle was 1 Across, which I first heard from a fellow traveler on my recent trip to Australia and New Zealand. (The female counterpart is “werewife.”) The puzzle’s title, by the way, is a pun on the capital of 4 Down.
Words: 66
Average Length: 5.76
The seeds for this grid were 18 and 50 Across, but the clue I’m “proudest” of (in a that’ll-make-them-groan sense) is 3 Down. As an extra treat, here’s 1 Across singing “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.”
Words: 18 (7×7)
Average Length: 5.00
February is finally ending (save for one quadrennial last gasp tomorrow), which means Opening Day is just a few weeks away. Here’s a grid welcoming the new season, including my predictions for the NL, AL, and World Series champs.
Words: 74
Average Length: 5.24
The phrase that seeded this puzzle apparently goes back to an 18th century play by Oliver Goldsmith entitled “She Stoops To Conquer.” It’s also been used in songs by Bing Crosby, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and others, as well as books by Charles Dickens and J.K. Rowling.
63 Across is one of my all-time favorite songs by one of my all-time favorite groups. Here’s a link, which can double as a hint if you’re stuck on the lyrics.
Words: 42 (11×11)
Average Length: 4.57
Australia is magnificent; New Zealand is magical. Plus, the indigenous (4 Down) language is vowel-heavy, making commonly used names for various fauna, flora, customs, etc. wonderfully crossword-friendly. Enjoy the puzzle and visit PuffinlessTravel.com for photos and my write-up of New Zealand – I promise if you read the posts you’ll get past any unfamiliar 30 Across content!
Words: 69
Average Length: 5.04
The seed for this one was 15 Across, which I was going to use in a totally different puzzle that proved recalcitrant. So – reduce, reuse, recycle, and poof – this nutritious if overdressed grid. (Phillies fans, I know you’re not exactly famous for being able to take a joke, but if you finish with the worst defensive metrics in baseball you deserve to be tweaked in a clue (6 Down), even one written by a fan of the currently irrelevant Nats.)
Words: 42
Average Length: 4.52
Here’s my 2 Down to the fascinating, magnificent country of Australia, where I was fortunate to spend ten days in early January. I visited Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland, Uluru, and the Great Barrier Reef and loved all of them, notwithstanding rainfall befitting construction of an Ark. If you want to see some pictures and my travelogue, please visit my travel blog, PuffinlessTravel.com and search for Australia.
Jeff's Puzzles