0:25:37
"A paradox, a paradox
A most ingenious paradox!"
Frannie got the whole paradox thing, and didn't find it all that ingenious, but I thought it was fine.
I liked DOWSE (30A: Use a divining rod) and FLOUT (46A: Openly disregard) quite a bit, and I loved SPY (61A: Stratego piece with a monocle), but I don't think I much like DADAS, especially when clued with "47A: Pops." COWGIRL, AROUSES, UNDERDOG, EXERCISE, LOSTSOUL, PLASTER… all good. And I enjoyed the pair SOANDSO (14D: Scoundrel) and XANDY (36D: Familiar axes).
I tried "intercom" where Frannie finally put PASYSTEM (50A: Medium for school announcements). I saw it and thought, "what's a pasy stem?" Also tried "shore" for 31D: Word after lake or sea (TROUT).
There was some tired stuff like RIAL, ARIA, ROUE, ERN, and EIRE, but it didn't sour my MOOD too much.
Decent Thursday.
- Horace
11:02. Didn't get the happy "finished!" sign until I realized I'd put in LOpE instead of LOBE. The PARADOX worked for me. A nice pair of "statements," and I've always been into the self-referential thing. Simplest paradox: "This sentence is false." Love it. Misread "Familiar axes" as referring to the bladed object cluing 1A, so XANDY took me a while to see it. Love PASYSTEM. That's a great answer, and your response to it is a Kitwo. I'm sure Huygens will enjoy AROUSES.
ReplyDeleteAnd as a last note, I spent a few EUROS when I was in Italy...
18:55
ReplyDeleteI showed this puzzle no mercy. Wasn't it a bit easy for a Thursday? I do love AROUSES, though not necessarily the clue. PASYSTEM was the first thing that came to mind for me for its clue, but it does look odd there in the grid. I didn't star anything today, but I agree with Colum on being on the positive side with the PARADOX thing, and with Horace on DOWSE and DADAS (the latter is terrible!). Colum, I could tell you exactly how many Euros that we spent in Italy over a two-week period.