Puzzle 148 – “Still Listening”
puz here / pdf here / solution here
As I type this, I’ve been back at home post-ACPT for less than 12 hours. My second American Crossword Puzzle Tournament was way fun. I went in with the goal of, hey, let’s try and be error-free for the duration, and anything else is a bonus. I did stay error-free for the weekend, and I wound up at #14 overall (a jump from last year’s 37th). And I took home 2nd place in the B division, which means I got the super-fun/super-scary experience for a second year of doing a finals puzzle onstage. More info (and links to video of the finals) here.
Even better than all of that, of course, is how great it was to see people, especially crossword folks that I have known for a while through online connections but had not actually met in person yet (especially the Lil AVC X crew). Amazing to hang with them for real.
If any of yall solving here have not been to ACPT yet… super recommended. It’s a blast.
On to this week’s puzzle… I have posted several music-themed grids here, and this one is themeless for sure, but it leans kinda heavy on music-related material, as should really be no surprise here. Tried to keep the cluing on the gentler side, though. Favorite clues are probably the fun facts at 1-Across and 61-Across. And I dug getting 49-Across in here–what a good word.
Happy solving, yall. Comments welcomed, as always. Hope you enjoy.
Congrats on your ACPT finish! Great puzzle as always, but a little confused by 40D. “Swear” vs. “oath,” maybe?
Thanks so much!
Yeah, swear would work too… I sense that oath can work as a (perhaps lesser-known) synonym, so I was going for a little bit of a misdirect there.
Glad you enjoyed the solve!
Congrats on your finish! Amazing.
I watched the video. Such a close finish!
Thanks for the puzzle!
I wasn’t aware of how close it was at the time, just focused on the grid in front of me. And trying not to think about how many people were in the room watching!