Friday, July 26, 2013

Friday, July 26, 2013, Brendan Emmett Quigley

0:41:52

In a word, uneven. There was some very nice fill, WALLACESTEVENS (4D: 1955 Pulitzer-winning poet), AMBROSIA (18A: Olympians' food), and LOSALAMOS (31D: Literally, "the cottonwoods") were all nice, but there was too much RENAIL (14A: Fix, in carpentry), ERODENT (41D: Tending to wear away) (really?), and IDEATE (60A: Philosophize, say) for the two of us to fully enjoy it.

More good stuff - ERIECANAL (12D: Construction project that began in Rome), very nicely clued. BANKSY (58A: Noted graffiti artist), any mention of Banksy is good. SEAOTTER (20A: Animal that catches fish with its forepaws), any mention of sea otters is also good. Even the word "forepaws" is cute, isn't it? They're also one of the softest creatures alive. They were almost hunted out of existence for their pelts, and when Frannie got to feel a pelt out in California one time, it's said she was heard to remark "I'd club one to death myself to get a piece of this." [Frannie would never actually hurt an animal. - Ed.]

ABBAEBAN (9D: Diplomat who wrote "The Tide of Nationalism") is, to me, similar to the name Atom Egoyan, which appeared on July 6th. Seeing it in the grid, I was unsure how to parse it into distinct parts. The puzzle constructor on that day commented on this blog to help me out. I'm hoping someone does the same today. (Brendan? Wanna meet at Crema to talk it over? You can find me there most Wednesdays around 1:00, doing your DIG puzzle!)

This puzzle really did have a lot of good stuff in it, but the weaknesses detracted from the enjoyment. I have come to expect more from BEQ, one of my favorite constructors.

- Horace

2 comments:

  1. Worked on it for 30:50 (DNF - Finished by Bobby)
    Nice quote from Frannie! I filled around 1/3 of this puzzle, then Bobby took over and cleaned up my mess, like he likes to say. I got THEWHO right away, as well as ONESET (55A Quick session for a band). The SW was completely filled in by me, as well as a few other clues here and there. I may eventually have finished this one, but I was falling behind due to HBH visits at that time, including the Paddly Whack!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's twice now you've called it the HBH. Have I somehow missed the change in name?

    ReplyDelete