0:56:32
Not bad, but a few things left me a little cold. Let's start with the good.
Frannie thought of RIPVANWINKLE (25A: Ne'er-do-well who stayed out for a long time?) pretty much immediately, and from there things flowed pretty well. 15A: Yarn suppliers? (RACONTEURS) was nice, but INARTISTIC (17A: Lacking in drawing power?), while given a good clue, just felt a little too, I don't know... inartistic? Enjoyed TRICE (1D: Twinkling), and INTERIM (5D: Stopgap).
We were stranded for a little while over in the NE until Frannie got the very nice, old-timey SKATEKEYS (12D: Quaint toe clamp tighteners) (remember those?), and SOLARLAMP (13D: Green light?) eventually dawned on me. ASST (11A: Right hand: Abbr.) took forever to see, and I loved TKOS (16A: What severe cuts may result in, briefly) when that finally hit me.
I am a little surprised that neither of us has ever heard of NURSERATCHED (44A: #5 of the American Film Institute's all-time top 100 movie villains), but not at all surprised that the same is true of OLIN (55A: "Alias" actress), REDD (53D: "Tennessee Waltz" lyricist ____ Stewart), and SYMS (38A: Sylvia of jazz).
It's nice that they came up with something other than "Blackbird" for ANI, and the clue 51D: Impressionism? means that I can't hate APERY too, too much, but, well, I don't know... it was fine. It wasn't great.
- Horace
I loved this puzzleIt was a test worthy of a Saturday, the kind that you feel pretty good about completing. Nurse Ratched is the evil nurse in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's NestI liked that NE corner a lot too. SOLARLAMP took a long time for me because I was sure the danged thing ended in "lime." HOOSIER was very cleverly clued, don't you think? Also liked MAUVE as "Mulberry cousin." Lots of good stuff and very little crap fill.
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