I'm not sure what this kind of theme is called, but it's that one where the first word in all the theme answers can be followed by a word in the revealer. Today the revealer is FIGUREHEAD (55A: Carved decoration on a ship's prow ... or a hint to the first word of 17-, 25-, 37- and 45-Across), so when we take the "head" of the other theme clues, we get "full figure," "action figure," my favorite - "stick figure," and my least favorite - "go figure." The material the "heads" are pulled from is pretty good. FULLNELSON (17A: Banned wrestling hold) is my favorite, both because my brothers and I went through a phase of using this, and the related "half Nelson" as often as possible on one another, and because I find it interesting and mildly humorous that a move has been banned from wrestling. I suppose they must mean "real" wrestling, and not WWF wrestling, and that would make it slightly less funny.
There are definitely some AWKWARD (29D: All thumbs) areas in the fill today. DIF, TUTEE, OYS, OVO, FER, INA, and COL (3D: One of 15 in a typical weekday crossword: Abbr.) to name several. Does anyone ever refer to, or even think about, rows and columns in a crossword?
But there are also some fun answers, like CULDESAC (4D: Dead-end street), RELIC (6D: Linotype machine, nowadays), SHERPA (10D: Everest guide), HOVEL (11D: Homely home), and GAMESHOW (39D: Where you might hear "Ding ding ding!"), for example. I also enjoy the words GABLE and FAUNA. My favorite clue/answer is 40A: Workplace often surrounded by trailers (SET) for the round-a-boutness of the clue.
1A: Record label for Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" (DECCA). C.
Theme - C+.
Finally, KAUAI is a weird spelling, isn't it?
- Horace
9:53
ReplyDeleteHow would you like to spell KAUAI? I suppose it's more properly Kaua'i, but it's generally spelled without the "'." Regardless, I'd highly recommend the gorgeous island as a destination, especially for me. Nice that OAHU is in the same puzzle, although we didn't visit that island for too long during our trip to that state. How did DECCA get such a high mark...were you drinking? Good clue for ASLAN. I should learn all of the state nicknames (28A The Sunflower State (KANSAS)); it may come in handy on "Millionaire" some day.