Pun of a Kind

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 ...