I don't want to get jaded or anything. There were some good things about this puzzle. It's 16 by 16, which gives a little more room for the six theme answers. DOUBLEDOUBLE is okay (not as good an answer as "triple double" would be from a basketball perspective). The other 5 theme answers are solid phrases, and the use of "double" before each word makes a solid new phrase. Nothing very amusing or surprising about any of them.
GOLDENBOY is a fine answer. I like 9D: Like some showers (BRIDAL). 13D: It lacks depth (PLANE) is cute. It's unusual to have a puzzle with this guy in it:
But there are an awful lot of proper names: AGNEW, ABRAM, ABBAS, EUBIE (?), THERESA, KYLE, NEGEV. And the puzzle starts on the wrong foot with UPCAST. Blah.
I guess that's the way I felt about this puzzle. Just not that exciting.
- Colum
0:06:39
ReplyDeleteI'd put the question mark after NEGEV, but either way, there are a lot of names. But I guess we've got NOOGIE, which makes one a bit nostalgic thinking of the young Bill Murray and the late Gilda Radner. SPOOKY, STIGMA, STRUTS, DRAGONS - all good. It's kind of funny that RAHRAH and YESYES are both in there. "Doubles," of a sort. And that ESSES clue (Half of the letters in this answer's row) is kind of a non-linear reference to yesterday's puzzle… anyone with me there?
Anywhoo, I didn't mind it. I was less than 30 seconds from my record on a Wednesday, and with a larger grid!
11:49
ReplyDeleteI liked NEGEV (filled in with no crosses), and agree that PLANE was nicely clued. It was an OK theme, and I liked the reference to British comics for ZEDS for some reason. I, of course, never heard of 42A Knuckleballer HOYT Wilhelm, but probably ET59 has. I was fooled, again, by 52A End to "end" (DEE)...when will I start suspecting that kind of a GAG with those clues?
Why is the question mark after EUBIE, anyway? He's a pretty well-known pianist, isn't he? ( I know he's now deceased.) This is a pretty well-worn theme, I'd say. Maybe the revealer makes it a little better than most of this ilk. I don't have much to add to the above. Nothing in here wowed me or offended me. HOYT was, of course, a gimme. Wait, one thing did offend me: The all-important (for show) corners were manned by UNS, NPR, SSN, and EDS. That's just plug ugly.
ReplyDelete