0:23:46
I had to tackle this puzzle alone today. Is this what the young people call a selfie? I kid, I kid. I know that has something to do with job hunting.
In a word, mixed bag. While I was not ESTOPed (14A. Legally impede(d)), neither did I race through the puzzle with EASE (47D. Relaxation). I had some trouble in the NE corner and my hopes for an OOH-worhty outcome without a call to Horace were briefly BLIGHTSed, but then I RALLYed (var.) thanks to IVY (18A. Wall cover) and was able to successfully conclude my selfie.
I was mildly amused by the homophonic theme, with my favorite answer being BANNEDLIEDER (28A. Music forbidden in Germany?). WHIRLEDPIECE (44A. Top?) was a cute twist (if I may) on an old bumper sticker slogan.
TVVIEWERS (34D. Nielsen group) didn't present any problems, but looked quite wild in the grid, don't you think? I was happy to see 7D. Albertville's locale (ALPS). And 50D. "__ sera" (BUONA) brings back delightful memories of the passegiate of days gone by.
I did find a few of the answers to be conTORSIed. When was the last time someone BEWIGged themselves, for example (53A), or got ICEdIN at a ski lodge (46D. Strands, as at a ski lodge)? But, overall, a fairly upstanding puzzle.
~ Frannie
22:16
ReplyDeleteYes, I've never heard of BEWIG even though my Italian grandmother was famous for wearing her "hats" as my father referred to them. And I must admit that when I filled in that second "V" in TVVIEWERS I was a bit worried until I read the down clue. The section that took me forever was the middle west (with WHIRLEDPIECE: excellent but it had me stumped!). I wasn't thinking of poker at all with 32D Stud alternative, so I didn't know how to finish off DRA_ for the life of me. I always enjoy seeing the AEON spelling in a grid, and I'd never heard of 43A Steel giant founded in 1899 (ARMCO) - is that a company? This was a fun theme for a Wednesday, and just difficult enough to make it a nice challenge. Finally, I thought that 11D Non-coed housing (GIRLSDORM) was a nice, longer answer and clue using a common crosswordese word ("coed").
9:20. I felt this was a middling Wednesday. The NE got me caught up as well, Frannie. I couldn't come up with GIRLSDORM until I had __RLSDORM. Woof. But it is a great answer, I agree with Huygens. PASHA and ESTOP in the NW, not so great. But I like INDYCAR, and ASLAN helped out. TVVIEWERS is great, as is BLIGHTS and BREATHER. But there is surely a lot of unhappy answers in there. I don't like TORSI at all, even if it is anatomically correct. We just don't say that. Anyway, the puns were a lot of fun.
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