0:27:57
So many Xs! This was a good one. Loved CHILLAX (1A: Take it easy), SEXSCENE (35A: Hot shot?) (!), BALDSPOT (40D: Unlocked area?), PARADOX (59A: "This statement is false," e.g.), and CATERWAUL (36D: Shrill howl), among others.
Never heard of STYLETS (64A: Sharp-pointed instruments), and FAST (53A: Completely dry, as a racetrack) took a long time, and seemed almost too unspecific, but it was the key to that whole SW quadrant, which was where we ended up. Had EXAMbooks for a while, but FAST gave us EXAMPAPER (38D: School handout), which led to IPHONES (57A: BlackBerry routers) (nice clue!), which fixed GENL (54D: Mil. bigwig) (from "GNRL"… how should I know? They both look odd), and which led to LEONINE (61A: Strong and regal) (didn't we just see "lionize" recently?). Whew!
Frannie didn't love EXENEMY (37A: Germany, to Britain) (or vice versa?), and there were a few odd plurals, like 43A: T-shirt sizes, for short (SML). Was expecting "SMS" "LGS" or "XLS," but got the singular SML. Why? I guess they can be taken collectively. Also, isn't it Le HAVRE (2D: Where French ships dock)? But the other french clue makes up for it - DEJAVU (32A: It's nothing new). Ha!
Lots of good, not much bad. Take POET (48A: One who deals with stress well?) - that one clue is better than yesterday's entire theme. Ha! Yeah, I said it.
Very nice Friday.
- Horace
38 mins.
ReplyDelete"EXAMPAPER." Horace covered my two starred clue/answers, so I won't go over them. I really thought I killed this one for a Friday, but alas.... I filled in GAGARIN (8A Vostok 1 passenger) immediately and it was just a FAST fill from there. I loved HOLOGRAM (27A Princess Leia was one in "A New Hope" (who knew that movie was subtitled?), but am generally against RITALIN (39A It helps you focus), so that was bad. Plus I hate the use of "you" in everyday conversation: "It helps ONE focus" would have been much better as I've never used Ritalin and have no trouble focusing. ET59, were he to comment, would probably have liked 62A Elvis hit with a spelled-out title (TROUBLE). Excellent Friday.
Right. Thanks. Fixed it.
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