Words: 70
Average Length: 5.29
Fair warning: I had a bit of fun while cluing today’s puzzle. I hope the result, while challenging, is still fun and perhaps even amusing.
One explanatory note regarding 52 Down: a “fake book” is a compendium of lead sheets, which give the melody line and chords of a song but not a full arrangement. They’re useful in settings where an amateur musician might not know all the tunes.
Words: 11
Average Length: 4.91
The seed for today’s mini was 1 Across, which randomly popped into my head yesterday while watching the Nats “earn” their 42nd blown save of the season (the previous MLB record was 37). Perhaps it was a subconscious realization that the only hope for our bullpen is divine intervention.
Words: 14 (7×7)
Average Length: 5.29
2 Down was the seed for this puzzle. When I filled the rest of the grid, I put in 4 Across and immediately thought of the song in the clue – a couple of hours before the news broke of Tim Curry’s death. Doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo (that’s Twilight Zone music).
Themeless 135:
Words: 77 (16×15)
Average Length: 5.25
Whoops – one of the seeds for this puzzle, 25 Across, was also a seed in a themeless puzzle I posted several weeks ago. (The other seeds were 6 Down and 33 Down.) I somehow forgot that I’d already used it. If your memory is better than mine – and I sure hope it is – you should have a head start.
Let’s Do the Time Warp Again:
Words: 7 (4×3)
Average Length: 3.43
Yesterday, a fellow cruciverbalist, Moose Dixon, posted a terrific Tim Curry tribute puzzle, which you can solve here. After completing it, I dashed off this micro-puzzle, entitled “Let’s Do the Time Warp Again”. Here are links to the online and AcrossLite versions. I didn’t do a pdf, but you can print the .puz file if you like solving on paper.
Words: 70
Average Length: 5.46
The three seeds for today’s puzzle came from diametrically opposed ends of the TV viewing spectrum. 26 Across and 15 Down were answers on “Jeopardy!” several months ago and duly entered my spreadsheet of stuff I want to put in a crossword. 3 Down was being played one afternoon on a favored show of my three-year old granddaughter, “Spidey and His Amazing Friends.”
A note on 57 Across: the composer in the answer got the nickname “Papa” because he was adored by the musicians who worked for him. He had no legitimate children of his own; there is debate whether he fathered an illegitimate child with a mistress. (Now you’re caught up on gossip from the 18th century!)
Words: 70
Average Length: 5.29
Unlike my wife, who seems to have perfect recollection of everything that’s happened to her since age 3, I retain few clear memories of my earliest years. One I do have, though, is playing 50A in Kindergarten (well before differential calculus got on the curriculum). That was my first seed for what I thought might be a fowl-focused themed puzzle, but after I came up with 19 Across and not much else, I opted for a mostly-themeless. Apologies for the partial dupe in 9 Down and 29 Down – I didn’t see it until just now and won’t let it give me a “gilty” conscience. Finally, you can thank me later for the two music recommendations in the clues (1D and 35A).
Words: 70
Average Length: 5.57
I’m happy with how wide-open and relatively 3-free this grid turned out. 1A and 15A were the seeds. 10D and 64A are clued etymologically because I think their origins are pretty cool, and I loved learning the facts in the clue for 17A. I also wanted to give a shout out to 21A. She’s one of my favorite authors; her books are humane, quirky, and filled with local (Baltimore) color.
I usually alternate between themed and themeless puzzles, but when I took a fresh look at the themed puzzle I intended to post today, I wasn’t thrilled with it. So here’s next week’s planned puzzle a week early.
The seeds for this grid were 6D/20A and 7D. My favorite clue is 29A – it’s not a pun or misdirect, but a beautiful quote I ran across somewhere.
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