0:14:07
HEYHEYHEY (64D: With 64-Down and 64-Down, Fat Albert's catchphrase) I liked it!
It's a bit of a silly theme, but I really enjoyed it. Many of the theme answers made me smile, and there were a ton of them. I count 16! Is that a record?
There was a little weirdness in the fill, with ARTI (16A: Introductory drawing class) (But I don't mind, really, when an I or a V, say, serves double duty), ATTA (39A: Lead-in to girl), and TBTEST (33A: Med. exam involving an injection into the forearm), and I don't really like WEEUNS (42A: Tots), but, well, I'm giving it all a pass.
I liked the simplicity of 19A: Not found (LOST), 45A: & (AND), and 20A: Play in the N.H.L. (SKATE), and the directness of 8D: "Green thumb" or "purple prose" (IDIOM). I'm sure Huygens will enjoy mention of the COSMOS (9D: Universe), and I find it reassuring that after the napalming on Saturday, DRESDEN is now the 10D: German city rebuilt after W.W. II.
Very fine Tuesday.
- Horace
12:47
ReplyDeleteYes, Huygens here enjoyed COSMOS. I'll have to be satisfied with that since there was nothing blue today. I enjoyed the theme, having figured it out immediately for a change. For a split second, I thought that there was a typo in 1A With 1-Across, toy train (CHOO) but the whole thing dawned on me quickly and I filled the whole puzzle in with nary a hiccup. TBTEST threw me briefly, and I originally entered stRUM instead of THRUM (a term with which I am not too familiar). I also didn't love WEEUNS. I wonder if Jesse would know and have used that particular colloquialism. I liked the weird look of HEARYE and SAYSYES, and one almost never sees the plural ATARIS.
8:59, but a DNF. I have never been a big Billy Idol fan, so I didn't know "Mony, mony." Filled in an M at the cross of that one and TIN. I should have remembered "Tin Tin,"
ReplyDeletebut to be honest I didn't really register that that was another theme answer. Plus, That was one of the last answers I filled in and I was probably going a little too fast and carelessly. I did enjoy this one, though. It was different at least. Yes, Huygens, is THRUM really a word? For that matter, I can't say that I've encountered MYTHOS very often in my 54 years either. I would have preferred "Turkish staple, in brief" for 13-across, but I suppose we're not going to get that on a Tuesday. HEYHEYHEY was my favorite too, but LETITSNOW (x3) in the middle lends an elegance to the entire grid, I think.