Sunday, August 18, 2013

Sunday, August 18, 2013 - Elizabeth C. Gorski


I'm on the hook for the puzzle review today. Some of the clues were in my line such as 59A French children's song (ALOUETTE), which was crossed, in fact by the (just-ended) 60D Tour de France season (ETE). See also 84A and 103A. I always enjoy the appearance of a Bobbsey twin, NAN (37A), in this case (good luck fitting Flossie into a grid). Nan was in good company: I counted at least 11 other names in the puzzle, from BEENE (82A) to BRONTE (63A).

Some of the other fill was a little IFFIER (39A) including no one's favorite, 2D Represent as a saint, say (ENHALO). ABACI, (105D Counters) as an answer was no prize either, but it was clued in a nicely ambiguous way. 54D _Light and 106A Ski-_ were a couple of FREETHROWs, contributing to a mixed bag overall.

Of course, all this talk of random clues is skirting the issue of the theme. The puzzle's title 'Edginess" is a cute hint at the theme, but getting it didn't seem necessary to solving the puzzle. However, it is pretty cool that the perimeter held the line(s) the way it did. 

No real complaints, but also very little to push my love over the borderline.

~ Frannie

2 comments:

  1. I enjoyed the inside-out nature of this one, although according to Rex, it's not such a big deal. I had a hard time getting into the middle (all the edges were filled first, starting with OFFENSIVE). The two Gs of DOGG were not helpful, and I wanted the drinks to be packed on ice, rather than INICE. I liked all the three nine-letter answers next to each other. And RAVIOLI was a nice touch.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1:08:29
    I always find the Sunday puzzles to be enjoyable distractions after the usual difficulties with the Friday and Saturday puzzles, but the F&S puzzles this past week weren't all that troublesome for me. Regardless, this puzzle was enjoyable. I didn't mind ENHALO, but LIAISE? I did like the mention of Johnny OLSON, but, like Horace (probably), was less than enthusiastic about 114A "You can talk to me privately" (IMALONE). Frannie must have loved SADDLESORE, no? And the NYT raciness made an appearance with LIBIDO, and I always like a mention of TERIGARR. There wasn't, on balance, much in this offering that was OFFENSIVE to me.

    ReplyDelete