105: The Turkeys Are Stealing a Yacht (Themeless)

Now Playing: Trisha's Lullaby by Akira Senju

[ Online | IPUZ | PDF | Solution ]

Word Count: 72

Mean Word Length: 5.33

Growing up, I spent a great deal of time collecting coins. Sure, it didn’t win me any friends at school, but it was a fun hobby that gave me an appreciation of history. My oldest coin in my collection is a Denarius featuring Julius Caesar as the heads and an elephant as the tails. It was minted somewhere around 49 BCE. I haven’t counted in a while, but I have hundreds of coins in my collection spanning many many years.

Now fast forward to today: the first United States quarter of 2022 is starting to roll out. If you’re not familiar with what’s going on with coins right now, no worries. The US Mint has started the American Women Quarters Program, which “celebrates the accomplishments and contributions made by women to the development and history of our country.” My seed entry for today’s puzzle references this event.

So, speaking of the seed word, onto the info about the crossword. It’s a 15x15 grid with standard symmetry. Did I go a bit heavy on the pop/geek culture clues in this puzzle? Maybe? Are 11 clues too many? Maybe, but I’ll let you as the solver decide that.

Title Inspiration: 1D, 20A, 38D

Music Inspiration: 40A

Seed Word: 18A

Personal Word List/Score: 32A, 37D, 40A, 64A

Reused 4+ Letter Words: 5D, 9D, 10A, 11D, 24D, 30A, 33A, 34A, 39D, 54D, 59A, 62A

Unique Words to Date: 4,424 (+51)

Non-NYT Words: 37D, 40A, 43D, 46D, 47A

Non-Shortz-Era Word: 55A

If you enjoy, solve, stream (I give bits), or find a typo in my crossword, please let me know!

Don't forget to love each other,

Jac

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