Words: 68
Average Length: 5.56
The seed for this grid was 15 Across, which is a fact I learned, appropriately enough, while playing trivia on a joint US-Canadian team (creatively called “USCAN”) on a recent trip. (Our team won the ship’s progressive trivia tournament!). For the whole story of the connection between 15 Across and Pooh, see this Wikipedia link.
Words: 10
Average Length: 4.60
This one may (or may not) play a bit tougher than previous VMs – I can never tell. Spolers/explanation below the break.
1A. AMP – amplifier, ampere
4A. CORDS – newborns have umbilical cords and cords (corduroy pants) have wales (ridges)
7A. IDIOT – Village idiot; Dostoevsky wrote The Idiot
8A. DEMME – Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins appeared together in Silence of the Lambs, Jonathan Demme’s most famous movie.
9A. SLEEP – REM is a sleep stage; the famous Hamlet soliloquy contains the line “to sleep, perchance to dream”. (The clue would work equally well for DREAM.) I wanted to further the REM misdirection by having the second half of the clue be “Sidewinder”; the band had a medium-sized hit song called “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite,” but it’s 30 years old and I wasn’t sure how well-known it is.
1D. ACIDS are used in etching, and “on acid” is slang for tripping on LSD
2D. MODEL – a model poses on a runway, and an A380 is an airplane model from Airbus. Major misdirect on this one!
3D. PRIME – beef and numbers both may be prime
5D. DOME – Buckminster Fuller is known for designing a geodesic dome, and the Pantheon in Rome is one of the most famous domed buildings in the world
6D. STEP – it’s a synonym for stair and, in music, a step is a whole tone (e.g., from C to D).
Words: 10
Average Length: 4.40
Explanation/spoilers below the break
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1A: SPARE is a score in bowling and an emergency tire
6A: PEDALs are used to ride a bicycle and to stop a car
7A: ATOMS have nuclei, and Thom Yorke/Flea’s band was Atoms for Peace
8A: DEBS is short for debutantes and also the surname of Eugene V. Debs, a 5-time Socialist candidate for US President
9A: ERE is contained in both Where and There
1D: SPADE is a suit in a deck of cards and also a garden tool
2D: PETER Cottontail was Flopsy and Mopsy’s brother; a famous Tsar was Peter the Great
3D: ADOBE is a type of clay brick as well as the developer of Acrobat software
4D: RAMS are pick-up trucks from Dodge and an NFL franchise in Los Angeles
5D: ELS (elevated train) are operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), and Ernie Els is a noted member of the PGA Tour
Words: 11
Average Length: 4.73
I wasn’t threatened too grievously after posting Venn Mini 1 last week, so here we go again! Think of each half of each clue as a circle in a Venn diagram; the answer will fit in the intersection between the two circles. It could be a common component, a word used in both “circles” but with different meanings, a name associated with both “circles,” or some other common ground.
EXPLANATIONS/SPOILERS BELOW
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1A: MOSS is a kind of bryophyte; Kate Moss is a supermodel
5A: COPPER is an essential element of both brass and bronze
7A: O’LEARY was the owner of the cow that started the great Chicago fire, and “Mr. Wonderful” on Shark Tank is Kevin O’Leary
8A: DERIVE is a term used both in calculus and in etymology
9A: SANE – besides meaning “sensible,” Aladdin Sane was one of David Bowie’s alter egos
1D: MOLES are enemy agents who’ve burrowed into a spy organization as well as rodents that burrow in gardens
2D: OPERA – The Marx Brothers are known for A Night at the Opera and Kurt Weill is noted for his music for The Threepenny Opera (esp. “Mack the Knife”)
3D: SPAIN – Toledo is a city in Spain and Columbus’s expeditions were funded by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain
4D: SERVE – people serve in tennis and in the military
5D: COD – Cash on Delivery or a kind of fish
6D: RYE – Salinger wrote The Catcher in the Rye, and rye is a type of whiskey
Words: 70
Average Length: 5.49
The seed for this puzzle was 17 Across, which I had just finished listening to for roughly the 40,000th time when I realized it was 15 letters long. I saw Chick Corea in concert two (possibly three) times – once in California in the early 80 (brilliant), once in DC in the early 2000s (fantastic), and possibly in NYC (I remember seeing Flora Purim and he may have been playing with her, but it was in the mid 70s and I just don’t remember, for reasons having everything to do with age and nothing whatsoever to do with any recreational activities.)
Words: 70
Average Length: 5.43
When I constructed this puzzle in late November, 29 Across was “it fits and it’s not awful” kind of fill. With David Crosby’s passing, though, it gives me a chance to mention him in a clue and express gratitude for the thousands of hours I spent listening to him in The Byrds, in 29 Across, in 29 Across plus Y, and on his own. He had a pure voice and a gift for heartfelt melodies and lyrics. RIP, D.C. “I sing in silent harmony/We shall be free.” (David Crosby, Guinnevere)
Words: 68
Average Length: 5.65
3 Down and 18 Down were the seeds for this grid; of all the great sayings and quotes about wine, these happen to fit symmetrically. Other than bringing your oenological expertise to bear, you can test your knowledge of stoner comedies, Springsteen albums, and dog breeds that anagram to a brand of markers. Enjoy!
Words: 68
Average Length: 5.59
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! This themeless started with the entries at 1 Across and 11 Down. I first heard about 11 Down on a trip to Portugal in October (where the fee for one is close to half a million dollars). I tried to make the cluing on this one a bit gentler than usual, but it’ll still be a workout.
Revision: I just found out the first half of the clue for 3 Down isn’t right. Please ignore the reference to “trumpeter Blanchard.”
PS: I just returned from a terrific trip going from Lisbon to Cape Town, with stops in Madeira, Gran Canaria, The Gambia, Senegal, Ghana, Angola, and Namibia. If you’d like to see some photos and my write-up, please visit my travel blog.
Words: 70
Average Length: 5.40
In the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe” series, Douglas Adams asserts that the answer to “life, the universe, and everything” is 42. In that vein, I proudly present Themeless 42, which answers such pressing questions as: What’s orange and hangs out in a mall (6 Down)? Who’s the leader of the pack (17 Across)? And what exactly is fast food (12 Across)? Please enjoy, and please share!
Jeff's Puzzles