0:12:18
Meh. The theme material is nice enough, and HERMITCRAB (11D: Creature that adopts a seashell) was a nice entry (though obviously-clued), but I just never cottoned to this one. Answers like RADARS (5D: Some control tower equipment), DINOS (24D: T. rex and others), DOS (58D: Opposite of no-nos), STAN (54D: Persian suffix that ends seven country names), ATAD (47D: Slightly), and others, just seemed kind of blah. And that revealer, using the only numeral in the puzzle, well... David Steinberg had a puzzle earlier this year that only used one number, so I wasn't too, too surprised by it, but, well... it just didn't do it for me.
On the brighter side, although I usually dislike the referential clues, APOGEE (15A: Farthest point of a 50-Down) is a nice word, and I'm sure that frequent-commenter Huygens will enjoy that pair. 2D: Corny things? (EARS) is kind of a cute clue, but after that, it's kind of hard to find anything that isn't just run-of-the mill. It's not especially bad, but it isn't much more than that, either.
- Horace
9:26
ReplyDeleteI confirm that APOGEE/ORBIT was my favorite pairing today. I also starred 7D Winter warmer (TODDY) because I like an alcohol reference, though not necessarily a toddy. And could 44A Boxer Roberto with "hands of stone" (DURAN) be another veiled theme answer (Duran Duran)? Probably a stretch. I'm also partial to ORION (12D Figure of myth known for his belt). And I thought that 29D Acted the fink (NAMEDNAMES) was pretty good. Finally, I'd not heard APORT (6D To the left, at sea) before. Of course, I got it right away; I'd just never heard it.
5:44. This one rolled off quickly. I entered the 2 without thinking, and then did a double take. Or is that a double dip? Anyway, nothing all that special.
ReplyDeleteA nice, comfortable 9 minutes. Happy to see my fav ball club referenced in the grid. I think I'm on record as hating the random number in a puzzle. This isn't so bad, i guess, since it's the revealer of that insanely clever and difficult theme. "Letters on a beach bottle" is nice. APOGEE makes me think of the porch in Maine, which, of course, is nice too. OK, one more, I love "Manos de Piedra." One of the dining rooms at Chi-Chi's was called Piedra. A decent Tuesday. No mas.
ReplyDeleteNice multiple Duran references, ET59. I looked him up, because I was going to mention him and wanted to know what class he was (he fought in several), and learned that he is one of only two or three fighters to have competed in five decades. Interesting, no?
ReplyDeleteAnd Colum (I assume that Hope is you), that's pretty speedy!