Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Wednesday, November 4, 2020, Jack Murtagh

5:41

I wonder what I'm doing up so early, solving the puzzle and writing the blog post. What could have happened over night that made me lose sleep? I can't think.

Well, we continue to bury our heads in the sand by doing the NYT crossword puzzle. At least here we can count on a few moments of peace and enjoyment.

It must be Wednesday, because the theme is so odd! So, you get a couple of examples of some category, and you're supposed to take the first letter of each of them, which together become a homonym for another word, which when taken with the category, creates a common phrase. Wow, that was hard to explain. An example? Sure! Why not.

See, 54A: Noon, eleven... well, those are two different times. And the first letters are N and E, which sound like "any". Thus, ANYTIME. The best is EMPTYNESTER, which is what I am for the time being. Tune in tomorrow to find out how the wife and I have dealt with it.


Meanwhile, the BEAUTY of this puzzle (outside of the peculiar concept of the theme, which on the whole, I liked) comes in the extras Mr. Murtagh has worked in. BASTILLEDAY is a nice reminder of Europe, that place we Americans can't go right now. And everybody loves a LIBRARYCARD. Do you remember when you first received one, and the worlds it opened up for you? Do kids use libraries for their original purpose any more? I hope so.

PARTYHATS and SPITITOUT are also lovely answers. I liked PAPYRI and 49D: Results of some drivers' mistakes (UTURNS) - much better than the meh answer "uie" or "uey." 

Other nice C/AP's include 13A: Jobs creation (IPAD) - although this has lost some of its surprise now from being used before; 16A: Group whose teens go through rumspringa (AMISH); and 29D: Medium strength? (ESP).

Okay then. Go about your day. We'll all feel better in either a few days or four years.

- Colum

4 comments:

  1. Wow! I found this puzzle amazing -- the funny things? I didn't grok the theme until the very last answer. Spectacular effort, I thought.

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  2. 12:39
    I don't usually check for a blog post when Colum's on until the following day due to his usual schedule. This was certainly surprising to see that it was posted at 7:38 AM yesterday! I generally hold to my normal schedule, regardless of what's going on in the world. I didn't know what the theme was until reading the review above, which isn't unusual for me. I filled this in, enjoying the nice cluing and answers, and then went on with my day. After the NYT crossword, I read the Worcester Telegram and solve all of its offered puzzles, so I've got very, very busy mornings. This one was a HOOT, though I didn't know EAZYE or ZESTA, but having gotten all of the crosses save for the letter "Z," it was easy enough. I guess I'll have to go with EASYMONEY as my favorite theme answer, obviously because of the zloty.

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  3. Totally didn't get the theme (beyond "the two words in the clue describe the second half of the answer") before coming here. It's not a bad theme but if the definition of "unfair" is "I didn't figure it out", this one was unfair (in the absence of a revealer or the like).

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  4. It helps that the crosses were just easy enough to figure the theme answers.

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