1:37:00
Brutal. Took forever to get going in this one, and I had a bad feeling that we'd be searching for an error or two once we finally filled everything in, and guess what? I was right.
You know it's going to be bad when you get all the crosses on name answers and you've still never heard of the person. That happened with (1A: "Another Cinderella Story" co-star, 2008) SELENAGOMEZ. And I guess the name EDDIEARCARO (62A: Two-time Triple Crown winner) rings some kind of distant, small bell, but really, I wasn't sure of it even when it was in. tOT (64D: Trig function) seemed plausible, but not really possible, what with TOT (30D: Add (up)) already in the grid. And I so wanted YumAARIZONA, but no.
I still don't understand MNO (9D: 6 string), and I thought I just read in Wikipedia that Will Shortz doesn't like unpleasantness in his puzzles, yet EGGSACS (40D: Where future web developers develop?) was right there, grossing me out. I guess he thought the cutesy clue made up for it.
Anyway, this wasn't really in our wheelhouse, as it were, and it was more of a boring slog than an enjoyable brain-flexing. Perhaps you had a different reaction, and if so, that's great. I did like ONGOAL for (32A: Like saved hockey shots), and the hidden capitals in (39A: Bath can) and (54D: Frank account) were nice. NYALA? Never heard of it. ENTERER? Lame. URI? Really?
Frannie enjoyed the shout-out to Norm ABRAM (6D: Norm of "This Old House").
- Horace
Post script: "MNO" are the letters on the 6 of a phone keypad. D'Oh! I'll be watching for that in the future.
ReplyDeleteI actually liked this one quite a bit. It was not easy, but I thought that it contained a lot of pretty unusual, pretty clever clues and answers. It probably helped that I know SELENAGOMEZ from Buddy and Maggie. I didn't get it immediately, but it fell into place after just a couple of the downs. Love the EDDIEARCARO. I rejected horse racing at first because I know that only three-year-olds can run in the Triple Crown races. Also, Ted Williams fit! I will say, ENTERER and PRETAPE are a very weak side-by-side tandem.
ReplyDeleteSteinberg is our nemesis. His next puzzle, in April, was our worst DNF of the year so far.
ReplyDelete