3:04:52
We worked on this one all morning, and I'm not sure if the long solve is due to our being distracted by a porch full of family members, or if it really was this tough. Either way, it was quite a satisfying puzzle. Lots of old-fashioned seeming stuff today. HABERDASHER (4A: Person who might suit you well?) was beautiful, HISMASTERSVOICE (12D: 1899 painting used to promote gramaphones) was a gimme, but it did little to help on the East, surprisingly. And on the other side, it was Frannie who finally got TOAFARETHEWELL (3D: Perfectly). Wow. That's not an expression you hear very often. GOETH (40A: "Pride ____ before destruction": Proverbs) qualifies as "old-timey" too. And while we're at it, WAXTABLET (30A: Ancient scribe's work surface) is pretty old. I originally wanted "parchment" in there, which fit, but it was older still than that!
But it wasn't all ancient history. We've got TIVOS (Show stoppers?) and ONLINEFORUM (54A: Avatar setting).
Some beautifully tricky clues. GASLOG (40D: Ersatz blazer) was Frannie again. Great, great clue. I got 50A: Inventor's undoing? (LIEDETECTOR), which was another good one. Another one I got right away was GOLDENSPIKE (56A: Image on Utah's state quarter), but that didn't help as much as I had hoped, either.
Anyway, this was a very satisfying Saturday. Very clean grid, too. I've been 16A: Transported! At least until tomorrow.
- Horace
DNF
ReplyDeleteI got GOETH and most of the NW, but not too much else. The name of that painting was not a gimme for me. I could go on and on about what I didn't get, but won't since I have so many more puzzles on which I need to comment....