Friday, June 19, 2020

Friday, June 19, 2020, Greg Johnson


0:21:48 (F.W.O.E.) 

My first entry set the stage for my solve today. I saw “Centerpiece of a luau” and confidently entered “pigroast.” That lasted only a few moments, however, because I was even more confident about TETES (Where les berets go) and GOTMILK (Ad campaign featuring "mustaches"), and I failed to notice that just a slight change in my first answer would have made it right. I then just as confidently entered “même” for “The same as in France” (EGAL), and it would be a long time before things got sorted out in the NW. The rest of the grid was still a struggle, but I had fewer missteps. 
hot PANTS
But enough about me, how did you like those wide-open corners and all those lovely eight-letter answers? “Screen that keeps out bugs?” (BETATEST) was funny, and the only QMC in the whole puzzle! I wasn’t such a fan of “Coat placed on the ground” for FLOORWAX, though, because is it really the “ground?” It couldn’t have been “… placed on the floor,” but there must have been a better way to use this idea. “Coat placed underfoot” might have gotten people to think there was a word for that cartoony act of chivalry… or “Coat on the deck?” No. …
The stack of ROPESOFF, OVERTURE, and SATIATES was a good find, held together with solid material and just one rusty pin - OUTLIE (Not reside in the center of). Well, I suppose some would quibble with the plural ERINS, but I was so thrown by trying to think of a “TV Burnett” other than Carol that I give that one a pass.
I also enjoyed RABBLE (Unruly crowd), SWADDLES (Wraps), EVENKEEL (Steady temperament), COYOTE (Prairie predator), and RADIAN (Measure equal to about 57˚).
In the end, I found myself staring at the box with the 26 in it – the cross of “Makes deceptively attractive” and “One of many in most families.” For the latter, I had “_ENUS,” and I couldn’t think of anything but “mENUS,” and although that didn’t really make sense, the M made “mILDS” in the other direction, which was a word that I could kind of believe made sense for that clue. As we’ve remarked many times, it’s incredible what your mind will make up/allow for when you’re stuck in a crossword puzzle! Anyway, I finally ran the alphabet and came up with GILDS and GENUS, but not before I had tried entering that M. Sigh.
Still, I enjoyed the struggle today, and I kind of fear the Saturday this week. Will it be even harder?! Tune in tomorrow, same blog time, same blog channel to find out!

- Horace

2 comments:

  1. 13:37
    I really doubt Saturday will be harder than this one! All those open corners. I found the SE corner the easiest by far. I hamstrung myself in the NW with "meme" (same as you - see what I did there?) and in the SW corner by putting in bellINI, who, in case you were wondering, was "the quintessential bel canto composer." ROSSINI crossing OVERTURE (with reference to William Tell) is lovely. Meanwhile, the NE corner simply refused to open up until I got PANTS of all things.

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  2. 15:00
    I enjoy a time to an exact minute. My favorite answer was the good old RADIAN, which is so very handy if you enjoy the calculus and other higher math. I always enjoy seeing the entire OSOLEMIO, and FREEZE was good, as was FESSED. The rest was mostly nice fill, but I agree with Horace on the terrible clue for FLOORWAX. It's definitely never used on the ground.

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