Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Wednesday, July 24, 2013, Erik Wennstrom

0:14:43

When I finished this last night I thought, "Wow, that was easy for a Thursday." And indeed it would have been, had today been Thursday.

The theme bewildered me slightly. It's just real people's actual names given funny clues, right? Does it seem odd to anyone else? I mean, all of the clues could have just had their first halves, and it would have been fine, but the second half added humor. I guess. Anyway, it didn't really seem all that clever to me. But maybe I'm just an old curmudgeon.

I did, however, laugh slightly (although probably not "out loud") at 1A: "I didn't know I was speeding, officer," e.g. (FIB), and 52A: Limbo need (BAR) made me smile, I think. But when I got to LIE (66A: Not shoot straight), I didn't laugh so much, because having FIB and LIE in the same grid just seemed kind of weak.

It was interesting to learn that MALI is a 9D: Country that's over 50% desert, and that the EGRET is the 54D: Symbol of the National Audubon Society, but after that, it was just full of weak or odd clues. 16A: Kind of solution (SALINE). 4A: Cover sheet abbr. (ATTN). 62A: One-volume works of Shakespeare, e.g. (TOME). Why isn't that plural?

OK, let's end with one last good one and call it a day, shall we? 68A: Official with a list (DEAN). That was good.

- Horace

1 comment:

  1. 28:53
    I checked a few times for this before bedtime last night, but I now see that you didn't work on this until later in the day. It wasn't stellar, though I do always enjoy seeing STEPHENHAWKING. One also doesn't see PALATAL or TIVO that often. And one would think that Horace would have enjoyed seeing CUKE in this puzzle, given his current hobby. I also, as Huygens, was pleased with PLANET, even though the clue was _____ Hollywood, but it came just before DAKOTAFANNING, so I guess that's OK. And I wasn't aware that TARO is poisonous if eaten raw. I may not have been so eager to try it while on Kaua'i had I known that.

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