0:27:21
As a person who refuses to admit that George Clooney, both
as a real person and as fictional characters, has eyes for anyone but me, 55D.
Danny Ocean's ex-wife in Ocean's Eleven (TESS) is not only way out of my
wheelhouse, but unguessable, as were many other clues in this puzzle. Lucky for
you all, it wasn't down only to me. Horace did the bulk of the puzzle. I
glanced over drowsily from time to time and made a few suggestions, but Horace,
gifted though he is, can't drive and write a puzzle review at the same time,
so the review falls to my lot tonight. Here are a few others I didn't know:
10A. "The Waltons' co-star Ralph (WAITE) [wait, wait,
DO tell me - ed. ]
57A: "V for Vendetta" writer (ALANMOORE) [good
movie, btw - ed.]
62A. Lead character in seasons 1-3 of "Homeland"
(BRODY) [ahh, Adrien - ed.]
Along with the above mentioned clues that demonstrated the
vacuum in my acumen, this OLIO (51D. Potpourri) [French for rotten pot - ed.]
also contained some nice items. The one that most captured my heart was 32D.
Player motivator (RAH). The singular, stand-alone form of this cheer seems to
embody its opposite. 6D. Things dealt with in passing? (ESTATES) was also
clever. And who doesn't like a reference to IAMAMERICA [and so can you? -ed. ]?
No one doesn't. :)
I know it is customary in these pages to call out poor quality
fill, but you all know which ones those are, right? Let's end on a lighter,
happier note and picture "Magnum, PI" in a LEI (5D.)
~Frannie
Untimed, finished with my mother and Cece, who suggested TAR. There is a lot to like about this puzzle, and 3/4 of it flowed smoothly and rapidly, starting with ALANMOORE as my first entry. KNOTTED as a reference to a cat o' nine tails might be wince-inducing to some, but to me will always be redolent of HMS Pinafore. UTERI was well-clued, as was ESTATES, as you mentioned, and SALAMIS. Once we were in the swing of Friday cluing, everything went swimmingly until we hit the hitherto untouched NW. We had the TES of ESTATES, and the S of PYLES, and nothing else. And nothing came to us. We put in TAR, guessed BOER, but it wasn't until my mother suggested AWAG that it broke. And really, AWAG? Otherwise, a fun puzzle.
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