Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Tuesday, August 5, 2014, Lynn Lempel


0:09:52

It should come as no surprise to you, Dear Reader, that I enjoy this type of punny theme. And since I just recently visited Fenway, the baseball aspect was both timely and appropriate (for me). My favorite was probably PATSDOWN (26A: "Uh-oh, Sajak has fallen in the field!"). Who doesn't like Pat Sajak?

And maybe it's just that we're on vacation this week, but the fill seemed fine to me, too. I like the many interesting ones like SLURP (7D: Eat noisily), OPULENT (48D: Splendidly luxurious), ROMP (18D: Cavort), and FACET (53D: Aspect). I don't really like the word BUGABOOS (25D: Persistent problems), but I admit that it's unusual, and therefore somewhat more welcome in the puzzle than OLEO (2D: Promise, product), for example.

There's lots of good stuff - BREWPUB (28A: Spot for some local suds), TEMPEST (48A: Shakespearean storm), MARSH (9A: Swampy tract), and even TINSEL (35A: Christmas glitter) - and very little to complain about. I needed a surprising number of crosses (maybe all of them?) before I saw DEED (23A: Monopoly acquisition) (Frannie got it immediately - we solved it separately), but honestly, I probably got it through the excellent downs in that quadrant. ROMEO (11D: The "thou" in "Wherefore art thou?"), SHREW (12D: Headstrong woman, as in Shakespeare), and HAYDN (13D: Joseph who wrote the "Surprise" Symphony).  Lastly, ALI (31A: Ring king, once) got a new (to us) clue, too.

I'll call this a very good Tuesday. Now, it's back to Vacationland.

-          Horace

2 comments:

  1. 6:39
    I filled this in as fast as I read the clues. COBS was just in the Portland paper crossword, but not much of the other stuff. I liked CARRIESON (64A "Fisher made it to first base!"). I loved all of the Shakespeare stuff as well as HAYDN, and I agree that the ALI clue was probably the best I've seen for that often-seen answer. I also enjoyed the nice two-part words: BREWPUB, SEESAWS and BUGABOOS, the latter of which I filled in with only the BU___ for crosses. A good, solid, if not slightly easy, Tuesday. I solved this more quickly than yesterday's.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 10:35
    That felt a little sluggish, but I did it while drinking coffee (i.e., before the coffee had any affect). I liked seeing CAPN (1D: Title for Horatio Maggelan Church, on cereal boxes), although I thought "on cereal boxes" was unnecessary and detracted from the clue, even for a Tuesday. I could probably say the same about BONO being a little too obvious. But overall, I agree that there was much good; from BREWPUB to BOTTLEFED and Deed to STATUTES.

    ReplyDelete