I must have had ballet on the brain even more than usual this spring, because when I went to check my slush pile of completed puzzles, I had another one with a dance seed entry in there. No, that’s not what I’m posting today, but don’t be surprised if more TERPSICHOREan content shows up next time or in a month. (And if you can’t get enough ballet, check out how you get married if you are arguably America’s most famous active ballerina and you’re marrying another ballet dancer. My niece pointed out “she’s even got her toes pointed in the makeup chair!” and I pointed out that they’re literally doing the last scene from Dirty Dancing at their reception. Swoon!)
Tag: crossword
Bonus puzzle: “Middle Child”
Hi friends! It’s my birthday, but you get a present of an extra puzzle.
I made this grid in 2022 (and it reflects my gridmaking skills at the time; please excuse the large number of 3-letter entries) but never did anything with it. The theme is, shall we say, not the most impressive achievement of its kind, so I mostly left this puzzle behind to focus on other things.
But, yesterday’s Wall Street Journal puzzle was offensive to a number of people. I get it; see Jim Peredo’s review at Fiend. I really hate the idea of making a puzzle that turns out to be someone’s emotional pothole. Most people do crosswords as a way to have fun, right? Even we speed solvers, although I would not call the way I solve “fun” (it’s more of a compulsion at this point), absolutely do not expect the part of our day we spend solving to involve an emotionally painful memory. And although folks may differ on what would or would not be offensive or hurtful to a reasonable solver (or to a subset of reasonable solvers), I come down on Jim’s side here that a theme centered around a revealer of MISSING CHILDREN is likely enough to be that emotional pothole that I wouldn’t have made the puzzle.
Anyway: I did make this puzzle, which in some ways is the opposite of that WSJ puzzle, and I think you’ll see why I finally decided to clue it and offer it up. I hope it’s emotionally breezy, although I suppose I didn’t clue it super easy.
Themeless #142
One reason I won’t be leaving NYC in the foreseeable future is that I love ballet (watching it, not doing it; flexibility has never been one of my strong points). If you know that, it won’t be hard to guess what my seed entry was here.
Themeless #141
I’ve just come back from a really fun week at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, where my husband and I, plus some good friends (one of whom is an accomplished amateur pianist), got to geek out over some brilliant young people playing a lot of concertos. Because I’m not the kinda gal who whips up a themeless in seconds, you won’t find ARISTO SHAM in this puzzle, but don’t be shocked if there’s some piano content in the puzzle in about a month!
In the meantime, I made this puzzle a while ago but realized the seed entry was geographically a little too close to that of another themeless, so I spaced it out. Enough vague dancing around it — hope you enjoy solving!
Themeless #139
I seeded this one with 15A. Enjoy!
Themeless #138
My deep apologies for multiple screwed-up clue cross-references in recent puzzles. I’m a one-woman operation and this is for precisely zero dollars, but I can still do better on that. I promise I checked this time. (And if the one pair of cross-refs in this puzzle is still wrong, please feel free to give me shit.)
Bonus puzzle: Let AI Finish It For You
Warning! This puzzle has some less-than-ideal fill and asymmetry that would preclude it from me submitting it anywhere. But I thought it was a fun enough theme to be worth it.
If you ask an AI to solve this puzzle for you, I won’t tell.
Themeless #137
It’s Wednesday! Happy solving!
Bonus puzzle!
This puzzle, entitled “Sing It With Me: They’re Our Friends,” was inspired by my deep, deep disgust for that guy in the White House and, in particular, the stupidity of imposing tariffs ON OUR FRIENDS. Life is better with Mexican avocados, Spanish ham, and a whole lot of other things. I suppose it would have made more sense to make a puzzle specifically about consumer goods from [SPOILER REDACTED], but instead you get pop music.
I hope you find a little joy in this puzzle amid the chaos.
(Edited to add: There are two cross-reference clues that say “Across” but should say “Down” — apologies, it’s easier to note that here than to redo all the files)
Themeless #136
At least once a year I think I should put some ACPT-related content in the puzzle that goes up closest to ACPT, and every year I don’t do it in time. This year is no exception. Please enjoy this crossword that has nothing to do with ACPT other than that it is a crossword, and ACPT involves doing crosswords.
Send good vibes! A gal wants to make the finals.
Crosswords and Trivia by Stella Zawistowski 