0:39:22
Pretty funny operatic re-wordings, and decent enough fill with no major trouble points. Never heard of ALLELE ( 31A: Gene arising through mutation), but remembered the crosswordsy ELIA (27D: Kazan of Hollywood), so that first L was eventually found. Didn't particularly like LEDON (37A: Enticed), but the somewhat amusing MOO (30D: Stock answer?) finally changed the i to an O. And I was almost stumped by EEO (38D: Job listing inits). I'd heard of Equal Opportunity Employers, but didn't know that Equal Employment Opportunities were also a thing. And OBOES are (41D: Heckelphone cousins)? Who knew?
Learned today that "baba" is some kind of Spanish cake, but it wasn't too hard to guess, as anyone who's ever seen Bugs Bunny knows the Barber of Seville. And speaking of cartoons, I know Boris Badenov from Rocky and Bullwinkle, but had never heard of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov (or the 16th c. tsar), but, well, it seemed to make sense somehow.
Particularly enjoyed the clues for OHARE (50A: Site of some Chicago touchdowns), PIANO (20A: One of the Baldwins?), and, for some reason, FOUNDED (25D: Like St. Augustine, in 1565). I thought at first that that last one might be FlooDED, but no. Eventually, it all made sense.
- Horace
I didn't like LEDON either. First I was sure it was lured, then I wrote in "led in," which I think is a much better answer for "enticed." In fact, I left that in there and never bothered to re-assess "stock answer," so I guess I take a DNF. I originally had roe for "stock answer," which I guess is slightly over-thinking things. My "stock" was the kind you do in lakes. Not sure they ever use roe instead of fish for that, though. "Moi" would work better for a stock question, I guess.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we had LEDiN too, when we hit submit. It tells us that we have incorrect letters, but it doesn't tell us where. If it's just a typo, I consider it to be still a completion, but in this case, when I really had to go back and re-assess every single clue until I found the error, well, I guess it's a DNF. Or at least a less-than-perfect completion. In a tournament, they'd just subtract some point value, right? They wouldn't just throw out the whole thing. That's my assumption, anyway, but who knows? I've never been in a crossword tournament.
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