0:56:27
Frannie cracked this rectangular, rebus puzzle very early with 1A: One at a woman's side? ([POCKET]BOOK) and 1D: Presidential power first used by James Madison ([POCKET]VETO), and as soon as she did, I guessed at the "pool table" symmetry, which made those areas quite easy. All that remained was what, exactly, would be in the pool balls. Go figure, it was "pool balls." And eventually, Frannie also noticed the bonus theme material of "cue," "chalk," "bridge," "rack," and "felt." Very nice, overall.
Guessed "thief" for PICK[POCKET] (11A: Person who might bump into your on a subway) before the rebus was discovered, and "tapir" for COATI (21A: Animal with a flexible snout). Tapirs have them too, right? Are they extinct, or what? I'm not entirely sure… No, they are not extinct. Not entirely, anyway. Right.
Enjoyed BOWER (42A: Shady spot), SWALE (35D: Low, moist area), STOOLIE (91A: Rat), OWNS (27A: Completely dominates), and 13D: Bear necessities? (CLAWS) was fun. Interesting trivia with 49A: Name that's Hebrew for "pleasant" (NAOMI) and 4D: First National Leaguer with eight consecutive 100-R.B.I. seasons (OTT), and a nice TSELIOT quote in "29A: He said the most important thing for poets to do is to write as little as possible."
Some nice, tricky stuff with SCAB (81A: Part of the healing process), SORE (86A: Like a Monday morning quarterback?), and 45A: Bee product (QUILT) (!), which was one of the last to fall today. And we enjoyed the symmetrical SCIENTISTS (28D: Half of the Nobel Prize winners, typically) and ILLUMINATI (30D: Secret society in Dan Brown's "Angels & Demons").
Interesting that HUNH (52D: "Come again?") was allowed, and I could do without HOS, NOES, RELAP, and a few others, but overall, this was a fine Sunday.
- Horace
51:03
ReplyDeleteI recognized the rectangle as a pool table as it was printing, so once the first rebus fell I was able to locate the others and the whole grid went pretty quickly. I, too, starred 57A Rejections (NOES) as being particularly bad, and I had PIGstyS for a long time for 87A Symbols of dirtiness (PIGPENS). The NYT loves to sneak ACID (59D You'll trip if you drop it) into puzzles in various ways, and it took me much too long to get 73D Next-to-last #1 Beatles hit (LETITBE). I don't know about HUNH. I guess it's OK. Sue would have liked to see 106D Microwaveable snack item (HOT[POCKET]) because she loves Gaffigan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmHSe_S04CU).