0:20:46
The only clue I helped Frannie with at all in this one was 14A: Jesse who pitched in a record 1,252 major-league games (OROSCO). Had she known that, the time would have been at least five minutes faster, and I wouldn't have seen the puzzle at all until looking it over at the end. I'm pretty sure I had a Jesse Orosco baseball card. I wonder if it's worth much, now that he has a major-league record? I wonder if I could find mine, even if it were? But I digress...
I like the theme of missing middle initials. Which sounds more strange to you, MARYBLIGE or ROBERTLEE? I think it's a toss-up. The other two you could probably get away with in conversation, but not those two.
Frannie liked the Biblical trio (notice I didn't say "Trinity") of ADAM (22D: Genesis man), EVE (50A: Genesis woman), and ABEL (Genesis son), but she didn't love ACERB (5D: Sharp tasting), having first tried "acrid," which probably would have been better. She also thought it odd that NOMAAM (1A: Polite turndown) and NOTI (30D: Claim of innocence), showed up again so soon. "NOMAAM" (27A: Polite denial) and "WHOME" (9D: Words of faux innocence") were both in this past Sunday. And come to think of it, wouldn't that second one have been better in the singular, as "Word of faux innocence?" with "MOI?"
OK, I guess that's enough. Perhaps the solver will comment on it herself, eventually.
- Horace
I'll comment, after having to catch up following a weekend (starting Wednesday last) of visitors and general busy-ness. I didn't time many of the puzzles I've been doing of late, but I'm pretty steady regarding times depending on the day of the week. I'd never heard of OROSCO, unsurprisingly. I find RUTHERFORDHAYES to not flow too smoothly without the "B." Having figured out the theme almost immediately, I had no trouble just writing answers in almost as soon as I read the clues. I learned some things today, however: LISBON being the westernmost capital in Continental Europe, and that MAYTAG is part of Whirlpool.
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