Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Wednesday, August 14, 2013, Sarah Keller

0:21:10

Well, I filled in all the boxes in about ten minutes, but then spent many more minutes looking for an error with no success. I handed it to Frannie and she fixed it immediately. As it turns out, the very first thing I put in, and something about which I was inappropriately proud (that my first entry should be a Latin-based clue), was incorrect. AMICI is, of course, the correct plural for 15A: ____ curiae (friends of the court). I could argue that I never even looked into the parentheses, but even then, a female "friend of the court" would have been unusual.

Anyway, enough about that. The rest of the puzzle seemed both easy and disappointing. HEXAD (6A: Legs on an insect or strings on a guitar) I found particularly unpleasant. And I've never heard of a "24A: Bit of ink, for short" called a TAT.

The theme answers were easy enough. I blame Monty Python for my failed attempt to enter (with no crosses) "Jarlsberger cheese" in place of JARLSBERGCHEESE (20A: Norwegian import in the dairy case), but it came soon enough. I love any mention of a WHIFFLEBALL (45A: Bit of equipment for an outdoor kids' game). But... well, I don't know... I just didn't like it. Sometimes that happens.

- Horace

2 comments:

  1. 23:38
    I also enjoyed WIFFLEBALL. Of course, a "TAT" is short for tattoo, also called getting "inked" in that community, of which my brother Eric is a part. Thanks to him, I got that one right away. What about the terrible NODEAR? Or SEISMS? And I was at a loss trying to figure out what the four long clues had in common. I got "THINGS pretty quickly, but the end came a bit later.

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  2. Doh! Of course it is. I know that most days, but just wasn't thinking along those lines when doing this one. Thanks.

    And yes, I almost called out SEISMS. I'm glad you did.

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