1:37:15
BUMPER CARS
I mentioned our friend Andrew yesterday as being instrumental to our solving the puzzle, well, he enjoyed the experience so much that he started the puzzle today, and was reluctant to give it up! Instead, he read clues aloud to a a group of us, and we shouted out answers. It went along pretty well, except that he was intent on trying to work on the theme answers before we really understood what the theme would be, or had any crosses. We tried to explain that you usually can't just do that. Eventually, the message got across, I think.
Anywho, the theme, once discovered, was clever and enjoyable. BOBCATRABBITACCORD (55A: Peace treaty between a predator and its prey?) was a personal favorite, and MIDGETOUTBACKEXPLORER (116A: Diminutive Aborigine?) was right up there.
Pretty nice, clever clues. 35A: Sticky handle? (ELMERS) and 94A: Magazine user (UZI) were fun, and SHANKS (98A: Mistakes made by some bad drivers) was nicely misleading. 71D: Speak pigeon (COO), too, was very nice. It's funny, I don't remember seeing GMA ever before, and suddenly it's in two days in a row.
I think that a few weeks ago I admitted that I don't usually like Sunday puzzles, but now we've had three in a row that I've liked quite a bit. Welp, I guess maybe I'll have to change my mind!
- Horace
This was a no-finish for me; mostly because I just lost interest. I agree the theme was fun, and cluing was very nice. Maybe I was spoiled by solving Saturday!
ReplyDeleteYou know, maybe that's my problem - after Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, it is almost always a letdown. Maybe you should switch your day(s)!
ReplyDeleteI didn't like this Sunday very much. None of the theme answers were clever enough to justify the mere stringing togather of some random car model names. There were a few real clunkers in the fill too: How bad is PRESSMAN for "Newspaper worker"? Also, absolutely no one calls Berkeley UCAL. I actually wrote in STOP!" next to the clue "Four-time Best New Age Album Grammy Winner." Can somebody explain SIP for "Nurse"? Nobody would use that word for what babies do at teats, would they? Which reminds me, this was quite the bonanza for our friend Huygens. "Sugar Lips," BRA and ACUP, "Stroked, in a way," "Pussy Riot," OBSCENE . . . To end on a positive note, I did like seeing TWIX, IDIOCY, NIXONS, and the SHANKS mentioned by Horace. TALE for "Relation" was good too.
ReplyDeleteSIP for "Nurse," I believe, refers to what one might do to a drink. And yeah, it's time to give ol' Enya a rest.
ReplyDeleteAh, that makes sense. I hadn't thought of that definition; and it's not in most dictionaries. I'm not sure it's perfect, since to me nursing a drink means that you're mostly NOT sipping it. But I guess it's OK.
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ReplyDeleteYes, englishteacher59, I did enjoy those racy clue/answers. I figured out most of the theme answers pretty easily, but for some reason, PARKAVENUECOUGARQUEST was a long time coming. No one else liked MIDGETOUTBACKEXPLORER?