Pun of a Kind

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Pete Alonso to the Os for five years (sorry, Mets fans). Meanwhile, the Cubs still exist, I guess. (Do something, front office!) This will be the final puzzle before Christmas and wishing you a happy holiday season! I'll see you again on 12/27  to start the Winter Solvestice! --- 1.  Puzzle #158 answer: ICY ("I SEE") Correct entries:  62 Shortest explanation: Somewhat SAD, since it wasn't too much to do, but it was well-hidden! Replace NOVEMBER with DECEMBER, and you'll form three new words going down. Find their alternates to give us ICY/"I SEE. " --- 2. Because this is a tough Level 4  (though I don't think it's quite that high, but I have a feeling it might trend there), I'll be placing a bonus Level 1  below it later today, time pending. Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G 159a ("Trained Ear Games") The 8-letter answer to the meta is what I hope I won't be after you've solved...

Hello hello! No meta this time around, but I started a journey in September to post a themeless of some varying size (maybe leaning a bit midi) on the 1st and 15th of every month. This is my 7th in the sequence, and you can find the rest combing through my Crosshare page. I will label these with "TL" preceded by the number, so separate them from the metas, which shall still continue to be the main attraction. May all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G  

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! While I wait for baseball to return, my Broncos and Bears (two of my favorite teams!) are doing really well, so I'll take it! --- 1.  Puzzle #157 answer:  PUMPKIN PIE Correct entries:  63 Shortest explanation: Reparse FEAST as F, EAST and take the 10 squares in the grid exactly one square east of each "F" (the ten across entries with "F"s are symmetrically positioned). You'll get PUMPKIN PIE , our yummy apropos answer to the meta! --- 2.  A bit of a mini-meta for you this time! Thanks to Jangler for a last-minute test. Should clock in around a Level 2.5/3 . Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The answer to the meta sounds like what you might say when you solve it.  

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! Four of the toughest things for a baseball fan are November, December, January, and February. I'm at least glad that Shota will be back for us Cubbies on a one-year deal! Hope we can make some other great signings as well! --- 1.  Puzzle #156 answer:  NOVICES Correct entries:  52  - this one was a toughie and had a lot of incorrect submissions, so let's reveal! Shortest explanation: The four numbered entries can each be made into new entries by prefacing them by the month's abbreviation, corresponding to that clue's number. These four new entries have alternates in the grid, giving us ICES - appending this month's abbreviation helps the prompt make sense, giving us NOVICES as the final answer. --- 2. I do have a bonus puzzle planned for next week, so here's our first in a back-to-back set of what I hope are medium puzzles. Even though I couldn't think of a better title than that silly pun, I think this one will clock in at Level 2....

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! The Dodgers won back-to-back World Series in an incredible Game 7 for the ages, the best Game 7 since 2016 (trying to think what happened then). Now I have to figure out what in the world to post here for the next several months. In other sports news, my Broncos are rocking it! --- 1.  Puzzle #155 answer:  YOU'RE MY HERO Correct entries:  58  - a bit of consistency as of late! Shortest explanation: Some brutal fill made this one a bit less palatable, but I hope you still enjoyed the meal! Look for the letter pattern ABA, found 11 times in the grid in symmetric entries. The outer "breads" spell out ITALIAN ROLL, and the inside "meat" gives us YOU'RE MY HERO , the punny answer to the meta. --- 2. So, this was the actual inaugural November puzzle originally, but we did have last week's as a bonus. We will have a themeless on Crosshare next week and then be back here on 11/22 for another meta then! Thanks to JanglerNPL for the test-s...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! The World Series has been the best since 2016, and it all comes down to Game 7 tonight! May the best team win! (And then I'll start rooting for a Cubs-Mariners match-up in 2026). --- 1.  Puzzle #154 answer: 100 GRAND/$100,000 BAR Correct entries:  58 Shortest explanation: There is only one iteration of the letters C, A, N, D, and Y in the grid (the only singletons there are!). Per the title, we will have a product...mathematically speaking! Those letters are in squares 4, 5, 10, 20, and 25; their product is 100,000, signaling 100 GRAND (or its previous form, the $100,000 BAR ) as our meta answer. Sweet! --- 2. So, we have a bonus puzzle this week after last week's, since I overestimated the difficulty a bit. This meta is absolutely a Level 2 , but some of the fill got constrained as a result, so I tried to make cluing as simple as possible. We all deserve a break now and again! Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The 3-wo...

PDF  /  PUZ Hello hello! The World Series is set, and since I last posted this, Shohei Ohtani had a game where he struck out 10...and hit 3 home runs. No big deal, of course! Winner of the World Series will be determined by the time of the next puzzle, most likely. May the best team win! --- 1.  Puzzle #153 answer:  STAKES Correct entries:  52 Shortest explanation: No picture - but it's also tough to get the shortest explanation! Check out the Muggles explanation here ! --- 2.  We need a bit of a respite, but this one might go either way! Depends on if you see what you need to see, of course! We'll put it at Level 3 . Good luck, and may all your solves be beautiful! Mikey G The answer to the meta is the name of a candy bar.