Tag: Themed crossword

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Themed

The Great Escape

Words:  74

Average Length:  5.00

As the note to the puzzle says, this is a tribute puzzle for … our 15-year old Ford Escape Hybrid.  It’s still going strong!  I’ve also got a recommendation for you:  if you like birds, drawings of birds, or just plain good nature writing, check out the book in the clue for 23 Across. 

I got back several days ago from a wonderful week spent hiking and eating in Iceland. There are several posts about the trip – and lots of pictures – on my PuffinlessTravel blog. Please check it out if you’re interested!

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Categories
Mini Themed

That’s President Cat Lady to You

Cat-a-Cat Tete-a-Tete (photo taken in Malta, Mar. 2019)

Words:  16

Average Length:  4.88

I usually don’t get political in my puzzles, but anyone who’s solved them for a bit knows where my sympathies lie.   ,LA! 

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Categories
Mini Themed

A Bit Campy

Rapeseed field (see 5 Across). Photo taken from the TGV en route from Paris to Bordeaux, April 2023

Words:  16 (7×7)

Average Length: 4.75

Sometimes the best thing to do while watching the Nats pretend that they left their bats at home is to construct a mini.  (Both halves of that sentence are true quite often.)  Here you go.  If you like the puzzle, please send the Nats some offense.  Thanks in advance!

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Categories
Themed

Apologies to Nick et al

See 27 Down. Photo taken in St. Emilion, France, April 2023

Words: 76

Average Length: 4.71

A couple of months ago I posted a mini, “Entertaining Women,” whose theme entries were bands with names containing the word “Girls.”  I figured I’d construct a matching mini for the following week featuring band names with the word “Boys.”  Once I started collecting theme answers, though, I realized there were more than enough such band names for a full-sized puzzle.

A word about the grid:  I break one of the fundamental rules of crossword construction – the revealer includes a word that’s in the clue for each theme answer.  Apologies to any purists!

Any resemblance of the black squares in the middle of the grid to a man is unintentional and, frankly, beyond my capabilities if I’d tried. But it’s still kind of cool given the theme!

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Categories
Themed

Color Commentary

See 54 Down. Photo taken in Gran Canaria, Oct. 2022.

Words:  72

Average Length:  5.31

The three main theme answers (each has a subsidiary entry as well) are common expressions.  Given the color theme, I’d thought about cluing them with reference to the ongoing US election debacle, but the last thing we need right now is more snark.  Instead, I went for a whimsical tone throughout the cluing; whimsy, besides being a cool-looking word, takes the edge off anxiety (mine, at least). 

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Categories
Themed

Who Recorded It?

Not 24 Down. (Photo taken in the Galapagos, Sept. 2022.)

Words:  67 (14×15)

Average Length:  5.01

Back to my wheelhouse:  a music-themed puzzle.  This one required some creative construction architecture, which left me with an unusually-sized (14×15) grid with vertical symmetry and ended up resembling a person.  Arguably, it’s a better likeness of a person than I could draw freehand, which tells you all you need to know about my artistic shortcomings.  I’ll leave you with a link to Pure Prairie League’s recording of 10 Down, a gorgeous example of folk-rock.

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Categories
Themed

Rest Easy

See 50 Down

Words: 78

Average Length: 4.74

This puzzle’s theme is dear to me:  a good night’s sleep.  The FDA wisely prevents me from claiming that solving the puzzle will leave you so refreshed that you will sleep like a baby, but hey, it couldn’t hurt!

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Categories
Themed

Themeless 79

Sheep farm (see 1 Down). Photo taken in New Zealand, not Australia, Jan. 2024.

Words:  72

Average Length:  5.19

Here’s an oleo of a themeless, to use some hoary crosswordese.  There’s a Hindu deity, one of my favorite authors, some Aussie slang, some Vietnamese food, and a Monty Python reference, among divers and sundry other entries.  I hope you find it tasty and satisfying, like 3 Down but decidedly unlike 37 Down.

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Categories
Themed

Cosmetic Fillers

Gondolas with Isola San Giorgio Maggiore in the background (see 38 Across)

Words:  70

Average Length:  5.34

The seed for this grid was 23 Across. After that, not knowing the first thing about cosmetics, I did a great deal of research to come up with other make-up-related puns.  (I blush to say it took a while.)  Here’s a link to 42 Across, a beautiful, achingly sad song written by James Taylor.

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Categories
Themed

Go At It

See 26 Across. Photo taken at the base of Machu Picchu, Sept. 2022.

Words:  69 (14×15)

Average Length: 5.10

If a compelling crossword, like compelling drama, requires tension, then today’s theme entries should assure a gripping grid.

Because it’s one of Churchill’s finest orations (which is saying a lot), here’s the relevant passage of the speech excerpted in 1 Down:

“The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

Rest assured that your odds of surviving today’s solving experience are far better than those faced by the RAF.

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