Pun of a Kind

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Anthony Rizzo will retire as a Cub today at Wrigley Field, and you'd be hard-pressed to find someone more universally beloved within our franchise. What an honor for him! Today concludes the 4th annual Summer of Solves . Many thanks to all who participated! I appreciate all of you so much. --- 1.  Puzzle #150 answer:  CLASS CLOWN Correct entries: 89  - can't get much more Level 1 than that! Shortest explanation: The four silly themers have words that rhyme with, well, CLASS CLOWN , about as Level 1 of a meta as you could get. I still  had confirmation with STALE (clued as "word before 'mates'," which also satisfies CLASS) and DRIVE ("word after 'rodeo'," which also satisfies CLOWN). Note also the CL- Roman numeral connection for puzzle 150! --- 2.  It can always be a tough level to construct, but this is a legitimate Level 2 to close out the season. I'll see you every other week until winter, in which I hope inspi...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! After all the ups and downs this season, it's nice that the Cubs are still playing relevant baseball in September. We'd play the Padres if the season ended today in a wild card matchup at Wrigley. Wish us luck! --- 1.  Puzzle #149 answer:  2025 Correct entries:  55 - that's a  Level 3.5/4  indeed! Shortest explanation: Take the nine entries with perfect squares 1 to 81. Square root these numbers, and index the entries' letters (so first letter from the clue with a "1," second letter from the clue with a "4," and so forth). You'll spell out FORTY-FIVE, which is not  a number less than 100, so per the title, square that to get 2025 , our current year and the apropos answer to the meta! --- 2. This was meant to be the last puzzle of the Summer of Solves, but I do have a bonus one next week before we go every other week until winter. This one is a Level 1  (really). Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! The Cubs got swept in San Francisco - the last team to be swept in a three-game series this year! I'll take this year, and the park is gorgeous, but the Giants are a .500 team. Oh well, onward! --- 1. Puzzle #148 is still live upon publication of this - so the reveal will come in due time! --- 2. Posting early to avoid MGWCC conflict. I had an idea for this puzzle earlier this week and went with it! Thanks to Alan and Kay for test-solving and giving invaluable feedback on such short notice. We'll say Level 3/3.5 to close out the month. Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The answer to the meta is a number greater than 100.  

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Somehow, the Cubs won the series against the Brewers, which righted the ship a bit. We're on a road series now against sub-par teams...hope this helps! --- 1.  Puzzle #146 answer:  CIPHER Correct entries:  68 Shortest explanation: You need to enter into the land of binary conversion for this one! Treat the six 8-letter entries as strings of binary, with "I"s being "1"s and other letters being "0"s. Each of these strings converts to a letter, per an online binary-to-text converter (or ASCII chart, as some have told me!). You'll get CIPHER , the answer to the meta. --- 2.  My planned Level 4 today is apparently a Level 44, so I need to go and figure out if that one's salvageable. Meanwhile, we have a Level 3.33  I've had on the backburner for a bit - Mr. Gaffney just had a puzzle with this title, so no time like the present! Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The answer to the meta is an 8-letter...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Well, I hope your team is winning at least, haha. --- 1.  Puzzle #146 answer: CHAMP Correct entries: 59 Shortest explanation: A little more niche than usual - apologies for the sportsball! The five surnames, while clued differently, all could be found as players on my beloved 2016 Chicago Cubbies. Take their uniform numbers (per clue to CUBS) and, in order of the names as they appear, the letters spell out CHAMP , the answer to the meta! (And what the Chicago Cubs might be again in my lifetime...maybe.) --- 2. We progress through August with a Level 3  - might hover a bit below or above that, so we'll see what happens. Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The answer to the meta is a 6-letter word.  

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Cubbies are in a brutal stretch right now - not really sure what's going on. One day at a time, of course! But we need to go on an extended winning streak and haven't done that in a good long while. Time will tell! --- 1.  Puzzle #144 answer:  AUGUST WILSON Correct entries:  78 Shortest explanation: Level 1 meta but the grid was a bear to get through! Find the "pens" of five like letters surrounding another letter, mostly on the left and right columns. The pens spell out FENCES, and the enclosed letters spell AUTHOR. You may already know it, or a quick search to Mr. Google shows us that the author of the Pulitzer-winning "Fences" is the timely AUGUST WILSON , our answer to the meta. --- 2.  This should be a Level 2  or maybe a Level 2.25  once you do what you have to do. Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The 5-letter answer to the meta might be what you feel like if you're dressed for success.  ...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Cubbies got four players before the trade deadline - but not a starting pitcher! The market was tough, and it was probably better holding onto some of our stellar prospects. We'll see if our pitching can take us far enough into the postseason. Have to get through August and September first! --- 1.  Puzzle #144 answer:  DIME A DOZEN Correct entries: 55 Shortest explanation: Kind of a SAD one. The five extremely contrived clues to the 12-letter spanners (which took a while to write!) have exactly 10 of the 12 unique letters from the spanner within them. Thus, each spanner has two "leftover" letters; when spelled out in grid order, you get DIME A DOZEN , a nice connection to both the numbers 10 and 12, and the answer to the meta. --- 2. Welcome to the final month of the Summer of Solves! I planned to start with a Level 1, but this one got a bit away from me, perhaps, so Level 2  it is! Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey ...