Well, it's nice to know Steinberg can still uncork a corker! I can just imagine him reading a review about how Fridays and Saturdays have been too easy lately, and then saying OHITSON!
It was tough going today, and there were many that I just kind of backed into. Like OERSTED (33A: Magnetic intensity unit named after a Danish physicist) (If ever there were a "Saturday" entry, this is it) and even MOSCATO (26D: Italian white wine), as Frannie and I tend to stick to the reds from that fair country. And speaking of Italy, ACMILAN (1A: Football franchise since 1899) (That's European "football," better known in the U.S. as soccer) was another one that took many crosses.
I liked the struggle, though, and I liked several of the entries. So many sevens! Do I count 32 of them? It really makes for an attractive grid pattern. Anyway, some of my favorites were CHIMERA (2D: Mythical hybrid), SEASALT (54A: Natural seasoning), BIZARRE (20A: Outré), ERUDITE (61A: Professorial, e.g.), and many others. In fact, there's very little in here to grouse about.
I have got to finish this review in far less time than it took me to solve the puzzle, so it'll be short. But just last night I was thinking that maybe I often write too much, seeing as how attention spans are (they say) shorter nowadays. Anyway, gotta run. Thumbs up!
- Horace
59:36
ReplyDeleteNice, concise review. The NW took me around 1/2-hour to complete (nine squares of it, to be exact), but that's fair game on a Saturday. The rest came in steadily, if not a bit slowly. This was a nice struggle; just what I want on a Saturday. SCHMUCK is great, of course, as is COLDONE (maybe I'll have one tomorrow during the Big Game). The word ERUDITE always reminds me of John Cleese in drag during "The Piranha Brothers" sketch, obviously. I've now had two ACCENTS, BTW, and I think this is the second time that I've seen NOXZEMA represented. Oddly, we have none of the latter in our house. KIBBLES: gross.