D.N.F.
Bushwhacked by BUSHWA (52A: Nonsense) and PAPAW (35D: Fruit also known as a prairie banana). And it didn't help that I had confidently entered STELe for STELA (36D: Inscribed stone slab). Never heard of either of those first two. OK, maybe we've seen PAPAW in another grid once, but I have never heard anyone say, nor have I ever read, "BUSHWA."
Now that that's out of the way, I did love the clue for ADOUT (37A: Score before a service break, maybe). Also, the more I looked at DERAT (19A: Clear of vermin à la the Pied Piper) the more I laughed, but really, that's not excellent fill.
And, that's about it. Nice to learn a new word for nonsense, I guess.
Onward! Wōden's day is ANIGH!
- Horace
DNF
ReplyDeleteI just didn't know the 52A/35D/36D (I had STELe in there, too) crosses, so, oh well. Everything else was fine. I liked DERAT (had it starred) and I starred a few of the "Nonsense" clues: TWADDLE, HOGWASH and BALONEY. Those aren't used nearly enough in everyday conversation. It took me a bit to get 69A Second hearing? (ECHO) even though that answer is often seen in grids, and it also took a while to get 38D Understand, informally (GROK), though once it was filled in it rang a distant bell. I'm against puzzles that cross obscure things like BUSHWA, PAPAW and STELA, but other than that this puzzle was OK.
I can only assume that Bushwa has to do with the 43rd president.
ReplyDelete8:46. I too had difficulty with that section, but came up with it through some educated guesswork. It's a silly theme to make a mediocre puzzle a little more challenging. But really, all it is in the end is hard because the clues are all the same. Dislike ATYA, NSEC, ANIGH (?!) OCEDAR (never heard of it). Even now that I've looked it up and found out it's actually o-cedar, I still don't care for it. TRITER is poor. All in all, not a good showing.
ReplyDelete