Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Wednesday, October 18, 2017, John Lithgow and Brendan Emmett Quigley

23:58

The play's the theme wherein we catch the cunning of the creators (with apologies to the esteemed Bard-upon-Avon). The theme material starts up right out of the gate with DRAMA at 1A. To that is joined a cast of thousands of other theme-related entries including CURTAINCALL, SPITTAKE (my personal favorite), SUMMERSTOCK, STAGELEFT, CASTPARTY (which, perhaps, wins the award for trickiest theme clue (Fly fisherman?)), and KATISHA (whose right elbow has a fascination few can resist) to name just the longer entries. In addition to fill with starring roles, the grid features AHEAP of  associated entries from TV like SHO ("Dexter" channel, in TV listings) and Broadway ("PAL Joey.") The puzzle brings down the curtain with ACTOR at 63A. Bravo!

Awards for best supporting entries go to DESTROY, TASTY, CORNY, PENTUP, and PINENUTS.

STLO


Once INA while, critics do have to throw a rotten tomato. Here's mine: 3D Gillette razors (ATRAS) - boo!

There were also a couple of tired old reruns like ETA, TEC, and TMEN,  but the criticisms notwithstanding, I look forward to a sequel.

~Frannie.

5 comments:

  1. 11:19 (FWOE)
    "Dexter" mentioned twice since Lithgow starred in a season of that excellent show. I erred at CASTPARTY/RAG, where I'd entered an "n" since nAG and CASTPAnTY seemed fine to me. I never heard of ASAGRAY, but the crosses revealed it quickly. Same with MINOSO. KATISHA, of course, I filled in right away. My favorite theme answer was SUMMERSTOCK, for obvious reasons.

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  2. This might be my favorite of the celebrity puzzles. The spotlight shone on KATISHA for me, of course. Time was when I myself was the object of that character's disturbing gaze.

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  3. 9:44 FWOE
    I read the Deb Amlen daily writeup with everyone fawning over Lithgow's brilliant use of KATISHA, but when you cross it with another proper name that means a rough time for those of us not as familiar with The Mikado.

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  4. 9:47
    I am quite familiar with KATISHA (having recently seen the character played effectively by a male at Harvard's Agassiz Theater, where Lithgow's disembodied voice greets viewers before each performance), but I still ended up finishing a few seconds behind you, Berman. I thought MINOSO was tough, and am I the only person not familiar with the phrase SUMMERSTOCK?

    And nice to have Best Supporting ACTOR at the end, as Lithgow received two nominations for that award.

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