0:08:28
Kind of a drab puzzle today. Two-word phrases starting with certain letters, and that second one, MILKPUNCH (23A: *Eggnog relative)?!? What the hell is milk punch? And another thing that got me started on the wrong foot with this was STRIKE (4D: X, in bowling). When I bowled, filling in two corners was what symbolized a strike. Filling in one corner was a spare. An X meant you got a ten.
After that, it was hard to get back. EELERS (30A: Anglers after morays) set the scene nicely for an onslaught of crosswordese - TET, ATNO, ADLIB, EDS, ACRO, LASE, TRYST, CREE, ASSN, &etc.
It's nice to have ONEACRE (38A: 70 yards square, approximately) laid out in such simple terms. Hopefully, that will help me to remember a heretofore elusive measurement. And it's also interesting to learn what the initials stand for in 41A: Department store founder James Cash ____ (PENNEY).
Other than that, I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
- Horace
12:47
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of MILKPUNCH either, and it left a similarly sour taste in my mouth. I did enjoy all of the other theme answers, though, as well as the spelling of AMOEBA. HONORE (55A Novelist ___ de Balzac) was nice to see, as was BERTHS (8D Playoff spots), mostly because Sue and I usually give a "wide berth" to fishermen as we paddle around the pond. It's a shame about all of the negatives since it started off so promisingly with PRISM.
4:56. Too easy for a Tuesday. The MP revealer was obvious after seconds, and the rest was just filling in. An awful lot of crosswordese, including a bunch of answers better left in the pre-Shortz era, including TET, CREE, NENE (seen that too recently), and CRO. I never mind TRYST because it's such a chunky word. On the positive side, the cluing for 45A (SHEETS) reminded me of the very humorous podcast "Welcome To Nightvale" which I recommend checking out.
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