A solid Saturday. Some of the clues I saw right through: 24A: Highlander, e.g. (TOYOTA) and 15A: A Ryder (WINONA), and some took forever: 30D: Fire sign? (SIREN) (lovely) and 7D: Common aspiration? (AITCH) (good one! and I was very glad that it wasn't "aahhh" or some variant thereof).
STOP (4D: Cry to a tickler) was fun, ASCETICAL (27D: Like the lifestyle of many a monk) is a lovely word, as are COSSET (40D: Baby) and RICRAC (48A: Zigzag ribbon) (Thanks, Frannie!). STALK (43D: Follow too closely) and MIRROR (38D: Reflect) were clued well, and 19A: Hot stuff (WASABI) was tricky, too.
In the middle, we noted that "SEAmonster" was too short, but once TRYON (32D: Check for size, say) and EES (33D: Some semiconductor experts: Abbr.) (one of the only bits of crosswordese in the grid) went in, SEACREATURE was easy enough to see. It's always nice to have a classical reference, and it's especially nice here to offset JERSEYSHORE (35A: Former hit TV show with the theme song "Get Crazy").
Overall, an enjoyable Saturday puzzle that caps of an outstanding week of dailies. Now, the real kicker will be a great one tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers!
- Horace
47:47
ReplyDeleteWe breezed through the NW, starting with JOEPESCI, STOP tickling, and TOYOTA, but then slowed way down. Still, many of the reveals made the effort payoff. You've mentioned many; including, WASABI, MIRROR, and STALK, but also LOVEBITE, WOWFACTOR is a nice long answer to weave in, and I'll even say MOVIE was a cute bit of misdirection. I mean, if you can work Tom Cruise in and not cringe, that's pretty good.
Well, this one took me a good hour and a half. That SWW was very difficult and I almost gave up several times. WINONA and WASABI went in right away, but 9A Cruise vehicle (nice hidden capital) (MOVIE) had me stumped. I also didn't see TOYOTA right away. However, I agree that this was a good, solid Saturday and I'm happy to have finished it. I seem to run about 50/50 on these.
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