Pun of a Kind

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Kyle Tucker is now a Cub! Honestly, he was under the radar for me for the last few years - but the North Side is super-excited, so I can't wait to see what he does in '25! The  Winter Solvestice  continues today, with a special bonus puzzle below! --- 1.  Puzzle #117 answer: FELIZ NAVIDAD Correct entries:  60  - solid Level 2! Shortest explanation: Five across clues cross-reference the CHRISTMAS DAY spanner (COLD, SCHOOL, BOOK, WINTER, SHOE); per the SPANISH CLASS themer, translate these into Spanish! They become FELIZ, INVIERNO, LIBRO, ESCUELA, and ZAPATO; these initial letters spell FELIZ, a nod toward the apropos title FELIZ NAVIDAD , which answers the meta! --- 2. This one is a Level 4 , at least. This might not always be the case but, because it's Level 4, I have a bonus Level 2  afterward, just if you want a bit of a respite! The metas are independent of each other; this bonus mini-meta will be outside typical number...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Four toughest things for a baseball fan: November, December, January, and February! But I do love the wonders of the holiday season and have puzzles to keep me warm! The Winter Solvestice  kicks off/continues to day: a meta each weekend until early-mid March! --- 1.  Puzzle #116 answer:  ANNE OF GREEN GABLES Correct entries: 77  - fantastic!!! Shortest explanation: We have three clues that are repeated, one in the acrosses and one in the downs. These form triplets, and the missing entity for each triplet (not in the grid) are, respectively, ANNE, GREEN, and GABLE - all of which nod toward one of my favorite books I read last year: ANNE OF GREEN GABLES , the answer to the meta! (I almost wanted to title the puzzle "Kindred Spirits" but felt the click wasn't as strong.) Expect more bookish metas in the future! --- 2.  We have another Level 2  or so for test-solving, and it's the one that will also go in my Christmas cards th...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Is it baseball season yet?? This Broncos fan is pleasantly surprised at Bo Nix, though - we might squeak into the playoffs as well! (Honestly, I can just keep this introduction for a while, haha.) --- 1.  Puzzle #114 answer: WISHBONE Correct entries:  53  - was hoping to get to 60  for this one, but that's still a solid 2.5 ! Shortest explanation: The eight 8-letter words have another 4-letter word somewhere in the grid that can fit "between" them, breaking up the original word, and forming what I guess can be a before-and-after of compound words! For instance, HOMEROOM can take WORK to make HOMEWORKROOM (HOMEWORK and WORKROOM). The other seven follow likewise, giving us WISHBONE  (another similar compound word) as our meta answer, perfectly apropos for the Thanksgiving season. It is broken up, after all! I hope yours was wonderful! --- 2. We are now into the Winter Solvestice , which means we'll be getting a puzzle every Satur...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Is it baseball season yet?? This Broncos fan is pleasantly surprised at Bo Nix, though - we might squeak into the playoffs as well! --- 1.  Puzzle #114 answer:  GRIDIRON Correct entries: 37 Shortest explanation: I pegged this as a Level 3, but it played harder! You had to look at the clues for this, and four sets of consecutive clues each started with half of the four major plays in football: VESTIGE ("Touch...") and CANBERRA ("Down..."), TRIP ("Field...") and MEDAL ("Goal..."), and so forth. Take the numeric position of what that play is worth in football, and you get GRIDIRON , the answer to the meta. I'll just take the grid - if it's a crossword grid, that is! --- 2.  The consensus from the test solvers is that this should be a 2.5  at the most, and some even went lower, so this is a sigh of relief! Thanks to Claudia, Jay, Kay, and Lydia for their invaluable comments! Good luck, and may all your solves be beaut...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Congratulations to the Dodgers on winning the World Series, where Freddie Freeman went on an incredible tear. The Game 1 walk-off homer was so reminiscent of the Kirk Gibson one of '88 too, one of my favorite moments and calls in the history of the sport. Thank goodness I can do puzzles all year long, since winter is tough for a baseball fan! --- 1.  Puzzle #113 answer:  TAKE FIVE Correct entries:  54 Shortest explanation: The 7 entries with numbers are incomplete candy bars, so we have to ask "Where's the rest?" When we complete them, their initial letters spell BRUBECK, a direct nod to Dave Brubeck, and a trip to Mr. Google will show that his signature tune was his Paul Desmond-covered "Take Five," also a candy bar (albeit a rarer one!) and an expression for rest. This makes TAKE FIVE  the answer to our meta - and one of my favorite candies indeed! --- 2. I have no idea what level this will be, haha. I honestly, genuinely believe ...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! It is indeed going to be Dodgers-Yankees, and I have at least one friend who's rooting for each team, so my allegiance is torn! I'm just hoping for an incredible series - may the best team win! A Week 4 MGWCC is coming out tomorrow, and I usually immerse myself in those around the same time, so you get this puzzle pushed up a day early! No answer for the previous, though, since deadline is still Saturday at 1 pm ET. --- 1.  Puzzle #112 answer: CHAI TEA Correct entries: 72 Shortest explanation: The only appearance of consecutive letters are in the form of triples in the shape of the letter "T": the letters comprising the "T"s are C, H, A, and I, giving us CHAI TEA , our redundancy...yes, a redundancy, since "chai" technically means "tea," so we have "tea tea"! --- 2.  This is another one in that nebulous area that could go either way. I will say Level 3.25 , but we'll see what happens! Good luck, and ...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! At this rate, we might be at Dodgers-Yankees, a classic playoff matchup (the most common in World Series history) that hasn't happened since 1981. Still hoping the Mets can pull off an upset. We'll know by this time next week! We have a bonus puzzle today, as a consolation for last week's Level 3  being like a Level 5 , haha. --- 1.  Puzzle #111 answer:  THREE DOG NIGHT Correct entries: 39 , a definite toughie, to say the least. Shortest explanation: There are 13 3-letter grid entries that are acronyms, the only entries of which whose clues contain an abbreviation or acronym itself. The initial letters spell out SIX NINE TWELVE, each of which is starting exactly one entry: TRIO PUP EVE. The clues for those words allow for slight alternates, and TRIO becomes THREE, PUP becomes DOG, and EVE becomes NIGHT for THREE DOG NIGHT , our meta answer! Note JOY across the center and the fact that they covered Harry Nilsson's "One," so it's apr...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! This has been one of the most exciting playoffs in years, even with the juggernauts still doing their thing! We might get a classic Dodgers-Yankees matchup, or perhaps even a Subway series if the Mets can get past Freeman, Betts, and Ohtani (all of whom I love...but I'd love them even more if they were Cubs, of course!) --- 1.  Puzzle #110 answer:  FALL SHORT Correct entries: 57 Shortest explanation: About a Level 1.5 sounds about right here. The four silly themers all have AUTUM, which is almost AUTUMN, but the synonym for fall  is short  a letter, hence FALL SHORT , the answer to our meta (confirmed by the anchor entries SEASON and MARTIN). --- 2.  This one's a bit more complicated this time around, but it's definitely manageable! Even with my past at underestimating these, I can't quite see a Level 4, but who knows! I'll put a Level 3.5  and see what happens. Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The ...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! The Cubbies have their final two games this weekend, and then I'll be jumping on the bandwagon for some franchise for the playoffs. A lot to choose from! I wouldn't mind seeing any of the Phillies, Yankees, Orioles, and Royals go all the way. --- 1.  Puzzle #109 answer:  TOUCHÉ Correct entries:  48  (maybe about 20 solo solves or so) Shortest explanation: Definitely a Level 4 this time. Seven symmetrical entries are words or proper nouns with diacritical marks. Their letters spell NICE ONE, a great phrase but not a single 6-letter word! Two clues start with the words "nice" and "one": TWO and SHAY, respectively. Phonetically, they suggest TOUCHÉ , our final answer, a word with a diacritical mark, and a word that often means  "Nice one!" anyway. Whew! --- 2.  This should be a Level 1.5 , at most. Really. Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The answer to the meta, 2 words in 9 letters, is what I hope thi...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! The Cubbies are pretty much out of it at this point, so that means it's Broncos time. (Maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up there either.) We're back on a biweekly schedule for the rest of 2024, but we still have some solid challenges ahead (and liquid and gaseous challenges). Onward! --- 1.  Puzzle #108 answer:  THAT'S ALL, FOLKS! Correct entries: 51 Shortest explanation: Eight across entries start with a Looney Tunes character (note the middle column, which also serves as auditory confirmation!). Those clues' initial letters spell out PORKY PIG, whose apropos three-word phrase THAT'S ALL, FOLKS!  was the perfect way to end the Summer of Solves! (The constrained clues for LOON KNEE TUNE all begin with T-A-F, as further confirmation.) --- 2. Since Super Tester and I have been underestimating the difficulty lately, we'll put this first September challenge at a Level 4. I see it more as Level 3/3.5 , but I want to play it safe, haha. Good...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! The Cubbies have one month left of baseball. They played incredibly in April, July, and August, but will an abysmal May and June affect their playoff chances? Stay tuned! Oh, that's right, you're just here for the puzzles, haha. Last grid for the Summer of Solves  today, and we'll go back to biweekly after that for a bit. --- 1.  Puzzle #107 answer: LUNCH BOX (also accepted LUNCH BAG). Correct entries:  71  (initially, this was playing like a Level 3+, but that was likely the grid/rebus aspect of it; the revised prompt probably helped!) Shortest explanation: Four boxes contain a word that can precede LUNCH in a common phrase - hence LUNCH BOX , the answer to the meta! Note my contrived attempt at grid art to match the meta. Mailbag: "Not familiar with 'sack lunch,' so wasn't quite sure!" This was also another factor that may have thrown some initially! Possibly could be a generational or regional thing, but I was always taking ...

Update : This puzzle has been updated to a Level 3 about 2.5 hours after publication, and I've fiddled around with a few of the clues, none of which affect the mechanism. Note the new prompt below! PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! On the Cubs front, our newest upstart of a player Pete Crow-Armstrong (PCA) hit an inside-the-park home run last night, and it was incredible to see. On the coffee front, I'm drinking it. And on the crossword front, we've got two more puzzles in this Summer of Solves ! We'll go back to biweekly after that in the autumn months, at least. --- 1.  Puzzle #106 answer:  BALLOON Correct entries: 42  (I thought a Level 3, perhaps, but this played like a Level 4, for sure; I'd reckon only about 20  or so of these were solos.) Shortest explanation: The main component of air useful to us humans is oxygen, whose chemical formula is the diatomic O2 (in retrospect, for this to be a Level 3, there should have been a nudge to that in the grid). Seven sy...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! School is back in session, and I'm still solving puzzles. That's about it! --- 1.  Puzzle #105 answer:  KOOL-105 Correct entries: 73  (I didn't even realize it got above 70 - a Level 1 indeed!) Shortest explanation: Each of the four spanners clues to a letter of the alphabet, as seen in the graphic. These are the call letters of KXKL, and a quick Google search confirms this is the Denver radio station whose nickname is KOOL-105 , a numeric tie-in and the answer to the meta. This was my childhood radio station! It was '60s and '70s then, so it's wild that it's into the '80s and '90s now as a classic hits station. Could classic hits be from the time I was actually alive? I guess so! --- 2. This is a solid Level 2.5/3 . That's all I have to say, haha. Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The answer to the meta is a 7-letter word.  

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Olympics have basically been my entire personality for the past two gymnastics, and it was so cool to see the Swedish pole vaulter set a new world record! He took the sport to new heights! (I had to.) --- 1.  Puzzle #104 answer: V8 Correct entries:  39 (a Level 4 , at least) Shortest explanation: There are 8 Vs in the grid. They occur in the 8 squares with an "8" in it, from 8 to 78 (which is why the grid had to be longer to have the 8 Vs in it). Hence, V8  is our answer. There was also some shenanigans going on in the clues as well. In the across and down clue that intersected at the "V", per the above graphic, one of the eight vegetables in V8 was "split" across the two clues. This led to some awkward wording on some, which could have also be an in. (I also attempted to make the middle third of the grid look like an elongated "8," but that was decidedly harder to see than I anticipated.) --- 2.  In any case, this Week 4...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Olympics have been incredible so far with Team USA rocking gymnastics, along with Pommel Horse Man living his best life. Great to see some of the emotion in events like fencing, swimming, and trampoline as well. And we got another week to go! Cubs also made it through the trade deadline relatively unscathed, though we did lose fan favorite Christopher Morel. The Cubs aren't really expected to do much now, so it almost seems like they've been playing a bit lighter as a result, like they've got nothing to lose. Will they squeak into the playoffs after an August and a September surge? We shall see! This is the last month of the Summer of Solves , which will conclude with the final puzzle on August 31 . Let's get to it! --- 1.  Puzzle #103 answer:  TRIATHLON Correct entries: 70 Shortest explanation: Nine references to the Olympic medals are in the clues: three gold, three silver, three bronze. The initial letters of these clues spell "trickster...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! It's Olympics time! Super excited about this, which I feel will help hedge against some of the disappointment I'm feeling since the Cubs will likely have been sellers by the time the next meta releases. --- 1.  Puzzle #102 answer:  SHELF-CARE Correct entries:  69  (yay, a genuine Level 1 !) Shortest explanation: Nine entries have part of their pattern as IXI, where X is any letter and the two "I"s are serving as the lines. The title pretty much gives it to you! The in-between letters spell out SHELF-CARE (a bookworm's fitting pun on "self-care"!), the answer to the meta. I hope to read a lot on my vacay...and solve many puzzles, of course! --- 2.  We will crank this up a little bit, but I tend to suffer from a "Level 2 conundrum," haha. I do think this should play as a Level 2.5 , however. Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The answer to the meta is an Olympic event.  

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! I'm down from cloud ten - more like cloud or four or five - since the Cubs didn't do anything of note on their first game back from the All-Star break. Trade deadline is coming up soon, so we'll have to see what happens! --- 1.  Puzzle #101 answer:  101 DALMATIANS Correct entries: 40  (more of a Level 3 or 4 than anticipated!) Shortest explanation: Precisely 13 black squares, playing the role of "spots," have a white space upon them. These, in order, spell out  101 DALMATIANS  (the "I" and the "O" playing numeric duty), the answer to our meta. No bones about it! This one played a lot harder than intended and was definitely SAD. Granted, it was a bit of a leap to make "spot" = "black square." I threw plenty of Easter eggs as well: ANITA is the mom, SMITH is the author, CLOSE played the villain once, and apparently there were also 101 white squares, along with the numeric tie-in. Mailbag: "Your ...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! I'm on cloud ten (even more excited than usual) because the Cubbies have been rocking it this past week! They've just won five in a row for only the second time all season and are playing like the team I always knew they could be! Let's keep it going! --- 1.  Puzzle #100 answer: ONE IN A PUNDRED (har har) Correct entries:  60 Shortest explanation: I can be serious...sometimes! There were only 13 entries in the puzzle that were actually clued as directly and as non-humorously as possible. Those entries' initial letters spell out ONE IN A PUNDRED , the answer to our meta! To quote a couple of solvers: "After solving that one, I think I need a meta physical." "Oh, my. That's just...I can't..." Sounds about right, hahaha. --- 2.  Well, we have our first hundred in the books and we're onto the next hundred! This one will likely be about Level 2 ...at least, that's the goal! Good luck, and may all your solves be bea...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! For you Cubbies fans (I'm not sure who actually reads this), Justin Steele got his first win of the season in incredible fashion yesterday by throwing his first-ever complete game! I still think the Cubs might be sellers at the deadline, but maybe they'll just stand pat? This July is already better by a mile, compared to both May and June combined. And, now, onto Mikey G's 100th meta puzzle! --- 1.  Puzzle #99 answer:  WAYNE GRETZKY Correct entries: 81 ! A true Level 1, we did it!! Shortest explanation: It's about as simple as it gets here: take MIKEY G'S LAST NAME - hey, that's mine! That's GRACZYK (it does indeed rhyme with "basic," though I believe the original was pronounced GRAH-chik), and following the straightforward directions after that gets us to #99 himself, WAYNE GRETZKY , our meta answer. (This puzzle is based on one of my all-time favorite Dell offerings, "How Well Do You Follow Directions?"). --- 2....