0:10:57
Started out kickin' it old-school with AFROPOP (1A: Musical genre for Ladysmith Black Mambazo) and ESTRADA (9A: Erik of "CHiPs"), but for us old-timers, that was no problem. I always enjoy when the same clue is used twice (or more), and here that is combined with the pro/con theme, and really, it's quite clever and well done. (I'm not sure how many PROTRACTORS can be found at construction sites, but I'm not frequently on construction sites, so I can't really say. Still, it seems unlikely, or at least a little outdated. I don't really mind, but I felt I had to mention it.)
22D: Big money maker in Phila. (USMINT) was a good one, and although OBERLIN being the "38A: Ohio college that was the first in the U.S. to award degrees to women" was news to me, it was not new to Frannie, and she dropped it in without crosses. Both of us chuckled at BEESWAX (64A: Business, slangily).
One complaint I have is the clue 45A: Snick and ____ (SNEE). I've only ever heard "snickersnee" to mean a knife (as in "The Mikado"), and a quick search seems to show "snick or snee" as a more common alternate. It does exist as clued, so I must cede, but I don't like it. There are also maybe a few too many threes, and I've never heard of OEO, but none of that prevented a pretty easy finish.
Overall, a decent Tuesday.
- Horace
9:48
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard the term AFROPOP, but it was no problem. I agree that it was a nice puzzle with the pro/con theme, and had never heard of the OEO either. I was happy that the river, and not the band, was referenced in 56D, and even though I don't eat the stuff, I filled in 54D Letters on meat packaging USDA pretty quickly.
Sometimes on construction sites, the "clerk of the works" needs to amend the design drawings for the final "As-Built" drawings, and a protractor is pretty useful, even now.