0:09:58
We totally missed the theme while solving this (maybe because there's no "revealer"), but now we see several horse-related terms as the first parts of the long Across clues. If you count the whole entry as thematic, there's even more theme material than yesterday, and still the fill doesn't suffer too terribly. Sure, you have to deal with answers like SEPOY (32D: India's ____ Rebellion, 1857-59) (??) and TIBIAL (5A: Shin-related), but all the long Downs are solid, and there's not too, too much crosswordese, so we'll give Mr. Ruzbarsky the leeway he needs.
Nice that old king PRIAM (22D: King killed in the sack of Troy) gets a shout-out, and we liked the mention of the under-rated BITOHONEY (47A: Nestlé bar). We were surprised to hear that it was a Nestlé product, so we looked it up in our go-to online resource, Wikipedia, and lo and behold, Nestlé did acquire the brand from Ward Candy Company in 1984, but in May of this year, they sold it to Pearson's Candy Company of St. Paul, MN! Hmm… I wonder if it's worth writing to Will Shortz about this…
A decent Tuesday, despite a few issues.
- Horace
14 mins.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this puzzle was constructed prior to the BITOHONEY sale. Anyway, I didn't notice the theme until I read of it above. The puzzle seems nice enough, and I didn't mind anything other than SEPOY, which is a word that I'd never heard before. One note: I had for 31D Odontalgia just the final six letters at first (THACHE) and it looked so strange I had to fill in the rest with crosses, then had to read it several times before I realized what it was! And I knew that the clue had to do with teeth. Total brain blockage for some reason.
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ReplyDeleteColum! I'm so sorry. I accidentally deleted your comment while trying to open it on my iPad!
ReplyDeleteGood point about the baseball references, and no, TIBIAL isn't all that bad - especially, I suppose, if you're a doctor. Again, sorry. It's what I get for trying to operate this thing in a bar...
ReplyDeletePut me down as someone else who completely missed the theme. And as someone else who has never heard of SEPOY. It went in with the crosses, all of which I was quite certain of, but I still feared a DNF until I checked the solution on Rex's blog. As I did this it seemed rather pedestrian, nothing really made me smile or wax nostalgic (two things I like from a puzzle--see "SGTSCHULTZ, a double whammy, from a recent one). Now that I am aware of the theme, it seems a little better. Interesting about BITOHONEY. I buy Pearson's Salted Nut Rolls all the time. Great treat! Surprised Huygens didn't call out HALTERTOP.
ReplyDeleteMy comment has been removed! I must have said something naughty.
ReplyDeleteYeah, seriously, Colum; no one cares that you did the puzzle on the toilet.
ReplyDeleteHa!
ReplyDeleteHa! HALTERTOP. Now that's naughty.
ReplyDelete