Pun of a Kind

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! I hope all of you are having a restful, rejuvenating holiday with family and friends. I have a couple of weeks off, and I will celebrate by...crosswords, cats, coffee, and calculus, what else?? (And lamenting that the Dodgers are basically signing everybody, haha.) --- 1.  Puzzle #76 answer will be delayed for a bit while we see if any of my Christmas card brigade cracked it - it's still over at Crosshare if you want to hit reveal and get the explanation there! --- 2. We're progressing toward my 2024 goal of making at least one Level 1 or Level 2 meta each month. To echo meta extraordinaire Matt Gaffney, as he said on a recent Zoom call with all the muggles, it's not really fun if nobody can solve them! And I will have some challenges in the new year, of course, but I also want to give some fairer puzzles more regularly. This one has enough signposts along the way that I'm thinking Level 2, but I'll put it at Level 2.5 , just to be sure. Goo...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! 'Tis the season for another meta, and I'm posting this quickly so I can finally decorate my home for the holidays, which I hope to finish by March. --- 1.  Puzzle #75 answer: I'M STUFFED Correct entries: 43 Shortest explanation can be found here , haha (along with my promise to make some genuine Level 1  and Level 2  puzzles for '24!). --- 2. In contrast with the supersized Thanksgiving puzzle, we have a smaller one today. I've been underestimating difficulties as of late, and while I don't think this is a Level 4 , I might as well say it is and see if we overestimate this time. Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The answer to the meta is my 3-word holiday message.

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Coming at you shortly after my Thanksgiving feast! Hoping you and yours had a restful, blessed day. (And we saw lots of good doggos on the dog show, of course! Congratulations, Stache!) --- 1.  Puzzle #74 answer: KEN JENNINGS Correct entries: 51 Shortest explanation: As hinted by 11-Down, EMCEE = M.C. is important. Ten clues begin with the initials "M.C."; their entries are BARB-EASE-BOW-ABE-BEE-SEE-GNUS-MANN-PEAT-HUR. Phonetically (per "I Hear"), these become "Barbie's beau" (KEN) and "ABC newsman Peter" (JENNINGS), which gives us KEN JENNINGS , the answer to the meta (and the winner of 74 consecutive games of Jeopardy!  in 2004). --- 2. We have a supersized puzzle for this Thanksgiving holiday! Thanks to Jay for test-solving, feedback, and valuable comments. This could go either way, but I'll say  Level 3  is fair (maybe 3.25). Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The answer to the meta is a ...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! What will I do without baseball for three months?? Wait on all the hot stove rumors to see if Shohei Ohtani will come to the Cubs, of course! (The Craig Counsell managerial move shocked me.) Congrats also to the Rangers on winning the World Series! Would've liked D-backs to get to a 6th game at least, but there were so many great storylines in it: Corey Seager's second MVP, Will Smith getting a World Series ring in three  consecutive years with three different  teams, the legend of García growing (injured halfway through), and simply the fact that the Rangers have their first-ever title! Oh, yeah, this is a puzzle blog. Onward! --- 1.  Puzzle #73 answer:  TOOTH DECAY (or TOOTH FAIRY ) Correct entries: 43 . Shortest explanation: Six entries' had TOOTH-related words missing, and per the last across "anchor" entry, two letters were missing from the entire grid (and all the clues!); these were "D" and "K," respectively, whi...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Hope your October is nice and puzzly. For baseball fans, the journey of Adolis Garcia continues! What an incredible Game 1 against the Rangers and the Diamondbacks last night. I tend to root for NL always (because of the Cubs!), but the Rangers are proving to any of the naysayers that they absolutely deserve to be there. May the best team win! --- 1.  Puzzle #72 answer: JUST GOING FOR A DRIVE Correct entries:  51 , of which 35  or so were solo. Shortest explanation: Based on the golf hints (18-letter phrase, "course," AUGUSTA in the middle), 18 entries' start with PAR. Extract the n th letter from that word, where n  is the par of that respective hole on the Augusta course. The letters spell JUST GOING FOR A DRIVE , a fittingly putting answer for meta #72, total par on a standard golf course. For more minute-by-minute fun on how this was created (in an absolute blitz), see here . --- 2. This meta was not  written in 12 hours, h...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! On fall break now, despite it being blustery in the region. Have a lot to do even after posting this puzzle, so let me post and continue tackling (some of) my adult responsibilities. --- 1.  Puzzle #71 answer:  JIMMY BUFFETT Correct entries:  56 Shortest explanation: Each of the four restaurant themers contain the double letters MM, FF, and TT; these, always in this order, along with the "anchor" entries of MARG + HUH + RITA ("margarita") suggest the meta answer of  JIMMY BUFFETT . --- 2.  This entire meta, from incipiency to grid to clues, took about 4.5 to 5 hours, all in a less than within a 16-hour period that included some semblance of sleep. I'll explain later, haha. This might be as low as a Level 2 or 2.5 for some and might crank up to close to a Level 4, I presume. I'll put it, perhaps a trickle high, at Level 3.5 . Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The answer to the meta is an 18-letter phr...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Ironically, the last puzzle "We're Coming Apart!" could have referred to my beloved Chicago Cubs, who came apart at the seams over the last couple of weeks. Granted, they only had a slim chance to make the playoffs earlier in the summer, but these chances increased to 75% or so by early September. Now, they will likely miss them. In that case, all aboard the Orioles train! (Win it for Brooks.) But you're here for the metas! (And maybe also the baseball...a little bit?). --- 1.  Puzzle #70 answer:  SEVEN-TEN SPLIT Correct entries:  54 Shortest explanation: Seven  of the entries in the grid have the word TEN  " split " across them (such as TE*N or T*EN). This, along with the anchor entries of BOLE and LING ("bowling") suggest SEVEN-TEN SPLIT , the answer to the meta. (I have more bowling puns, but I'll spare you.) --- 2. As of this writing, I've spent about 7 hours on the WSJ to no avail, and the new Level 5 MGWCC jus...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! We're almost to fall (looking forward to those crunchy leaves), and I'll be decorating my office after I post this puzzle! We're also into meaningful baseball for my Cubbies, but they're in a bit of a slump right now (not the best time for it!). --- 1.  Puzzle #69 answer: LABORED Correct entries: 66 Shortest explanation: Easy-peasy! Seven entries can be preceded by the word "WORK," and those entries spell out LABORED , the meta answer in honor of Labor Day. --- 2.  Leaderboard (last two puzzles almost completely logged!) --- 3. We are back to an every other week schedule, which means difficulty is a little more transient. This one should log in, ideally, at no more than a Level 2 . Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The answer to the meta is a numerical sports term.

PDF  /  PUZ September is here! It does mean that summer is unofficially ending, so this is the last puzzle in the Summer of Solves . We will still go back to puzzles on a bimonthly basis, and the next one will go live Saturday, September 16 at 1 pm ET . --- 1.  Puzzle #68 answer:  ABIDE Correct entries:  49  (tying last week, with about  20  or so likely solo solves). Shortest explanation, which is still a bit involved: The five longest across entries, with one letter changed, would contain within them five consecutive letters of the alphabet. (For instance, SUPERSTAR would have PQRST if the E were changed to a Q).  All changes (with new/old letter) SU PQRST AR (QE) DEFGH TON (FI) T HIJKL IKEACAT (JN) FI RSTUV E (UA) BCDEF AULT (CY) The new letter and replaced letter start and end five other 5-letter words in the grid. Their order, from top to bottom, JOANN, UMBRA, QUITE, CADDY, FIERI. We already have "used" the start and end letters of these...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Where has August gone? We had a triple-digit heat index this past week for a couple of days, so I'm ready for cooler fall temperatures (sure, I say that now). My Cubbies are also in the wild card race, but those pesky Brewers are preventing us from taking the division. We're still going to try! --- 1.  Puzzle #67 answer: CUTTING-EDGE Correct entries:  49  (a Week 3 or Week 3.5; I'd estimate about 25  of these were solo solves.) Explanation, a little longer than usual this time: My intent when you solved this was that there'd be a lot of odd stuff going on, especially for a smaller grid: 1. We've broken some cardinal rules of standard crosswords: a bunch of two 2-letter words appear... 2. ...and we have repeated entries (OLE) at 9-Down and 13-Across (1-Across and 6-Down also rival that). 3. Though symmetrical, the grid is an odd 12-by-12 and, perhaps most notably, 4. Some of the fill is atrocious, especially for a grid that looks ...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! August continues barreling forward, rather quickly in fast! Soon, it'll be time for my PUMPKIN SPICE LATTES (I already used that as a meta answer last year, so I doubt I'll repeat it!). Cubs continue to make a playoff push, my students are doing well to start off the year, and I get to spend the day with coffee, cats, and crosswords. What could be better! --- 1.  Puzzle #66 answer:  WAY TO GO Correct entries:  48  (a solid Week 2, maybe a bit more like 2.25) Shortest explanation: As hinted at by the explanation of ABBR, there are seven thoroughfare abbreviations hidden in across entries in the grid (LN, CIR, DR, RTE, ST, AVE, CT). These are the only instances of these seven, and I tried to limit myself to the most common ones, though things like BR, IS, UN, and TER crept in (hence the qualifier). If we head (first letter) out on (above) each of these seven entries, we spell out WAY TO GO , the meta answer, fitting since roads are de...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! I hope everyone is having a great August as school begins to get back in session (and I go back to my 14th year of instructing!). I'm doing well because, of course, my Cubbies have soared in the Power Rankings from 20th to 11th, their highest ranking in years. They're playing good baseball when it counts, so let's see if it continues! --- 1.  Puzzle #64 answer: You can get a detailed behind-the-scenes explanation of this wild Week 5  and how it came to be here . --- 2. Puzzle #65 answer: TONY BENNETT Correct entries: 62 Shortest explanation: The four theme entries are two-word phrases ( technically  TORCH-BEARER is hyphenated or one word) whose words begin TO* BE*. The middle row is a visual representation of the song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" (a HEART in the city's nickname CITY BY THE BAY). This is the trademark song of arguably the most well-known TO* BE* not in the grid: the late, great TONY BENNETT , our meta answer. Than...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Apparently, the Level 5  last week was...definitely a Level 5 ! We're back to a Level 1  this week, I promise! (Solution for last week's puzzle will be delayed a day due to the late start last week.) --- 1.  Puzzle #64 answer:  to be posted soon! --- 2.  Leaderboard (will be updated after the last puzzle's deadline closes!) --- 3.  This is the first week in August, and it is a Level 1 , I promise. Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The well-known 11-letter answer to the meta would make a good fifth theme entry.

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! I'm savoring this time off and having a blast as a Cubs fan: we've just won 8 in a row, which is our biggest winning streak since 2016! (I wonder what else happened then.) Also a shout-out to the Orioles, who have been so fun to watch and a great story this year. Again, I've already used my one baseball meta limit this summer, haha. Onward! --- 1.  Puzzle #63 answer:  SINGULAR Correct entries: 47 (this also has the all-time record for correct answers, including multiple guesses, at 68% !) Shortest explanation: There are 26 columns in the puzzle, which correspond to the letters A through Z. In 18 of these columns, the corresponding column's letter appears twice (and is double trouble, since we don't want those!). The remaining 8 columns only have one instance of their key letter: these 8 letters anagram to SINGULAR , the only single word that can be anagrammed from these and the answer to the meta. --- 2.  Leaderboard: --- 3. This is the ...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! I'm on vacation now, decluttering my house (or trying to), rooting on the Cubs (please keep Cody Bellinger!), and listening to the music of the late, great Tony Bennett. A great way to rest and recharge. --- 1.  Puzzle #62 answer:  HALLELUJAH Correct entries: 51 Shortest explanation: As hinted by the short central across entry MOS and the title, all the asterisked entries have the three-letter month abbreviation in reverse (JAN in INAJAM and so forth). The only one that is missing is JUL's, which becomes LUJ when reversed. This can be found in the middle of the common 10-letter exclamation HALLELUJAH  (and I don't see many other words at all with that trigram!), our meta answer. --- 2.  Leaderboard (still from last week, will have to update this later): --- 3. So, we have a technical note first. Due to the unusual size of this grid, Crosshare cannot accommodate it. So note that the online grid is on Amuse Labs, which can be seen bel...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Hope we're all having a great July. I'm in my decluttering mode, but I'm definitely not throwing out all my books of logic problems that still await me! (They're the kind of puzzle I most reach for when not doing metas.) Another puzzle is what the Cubs will do at the deadline. But, never fear, this meta has nothing to do with sports! I might have used up my maximum one allowed per summer last week, haha. Let's go to it! --- 1.  Puzzle #61 answer:  (ROGER) MARIS Correct entries:  46  (Solid Week 2.5 or Week 3.) Shortest explanation: There is only one J, U, D, G, and E in the grid (the only singletons). If we don't "judge" and eliminate those letters from the across entries, we get five new entries. Play "alternate clues" with those and get the initials of MARIS (the answer to the meta), the Yankee who famously hit 61 in '61, a record that would stand in the AL until...61 years later, fittingly enough, when Aaron Ju...