0:11:48
This grid put up very little resistance as we worked on it in unison last night. We started with the Down clues, and after getting a few of those, the fifteens all fell easily. Then it was just a matter of filling in.
Didn't know KLEBAN (24A: "A Chorus Line" lyricist Ed) or what (32D) year the Angels won the World Series (MMII), and TRILBY (47D: English hat similar to a fedora) sounded familiar only after it was filled in, but those things mattered little today. We enjoyed seeing ALEXANDERCALDER (61A: Mobile creator) in there… he's always a favorite. And that's a very different clue for ALI (34A: Iran's Ayatollah ____ Khamenei)! We didn't know that either.
Never saw the movie referred to in the mini-theme, but Frannie remembered CAPTAINPHILLIPS after I remembered SOMALIPIRATES, so that went well, too. Heck, I even remembered ARA (28A: Constellation described by Ptolemy)! He described a lot of them, but only a few have made it into the crosswords I've seen.
As for enjoyment factor - well, I didn't love the cross-referenced EST/ARR/ETAS nonsense, and ATRA, EPEE, ERST, ELAN, IRES (plural - blah), and YSER are all seen rather too often. One of Frannie's least favorite entries also made an appearance - ENOTE (12D: Modern message), and while I'm grousing, I might as well add that I prefer the "ae" spelling of ETHER (46A: Upper regions of space).
On an up note, my BLUECHIPS (3D: Relatively low-risk investments) made something like 40% last year, so I'm happy about that.
Overall, 7D: Meh (SOSO).
- Horace
49:31
ReplyDeleteWow! That's a good return for blue chips. Anyway, I had a few trouble spots, but nothing insurmountable. I also prefer aether to ether. I had ORLANDOSuNTImEs in there for a little bit, which caused a few problems, but it worked itself out rather quickly for a Friday, I thought, so it's all just fine. The BUMMERS/BEFORE cross had tricky clues, for me, anyway. I don't mind the crosswordese too much, but I agree that its use should be more limited on F/S.