Blindauer week rolls on. I think I could get used to this - slightly harder-than-usual puzzles, very well done, with smart clueing and interesting fill. I'm learning a lot of new names, too, like Huarte, Rehm, and now CARLORFF (36D: "Carmina Burana" composer). I wasn't even sure where to parse that one! (It's Orff.)
It's a little strange to have DIOXIDE (6D: Compound containing 10-Down) and OXYGEN (10D: Element #8) in the same puzzle, and I'm guessing it was forced, in a way... but we're not talking about that, are we?
So, let's see, the theme moves from "time" to "vision" today. We have PEEKABOOISEEYOU (17A: Words to a baby) and FORYOUREYESONLY (59A: 007 film of 1981), and a smiley face right in the middle of the grid. Kind of cool. He does what he wants, apparently, Mr. Blindauer.
Speaking of doing what he wants, I wasn't sure how I felt about GOPFFT (1D: Die) when I filled it in, but I have come around on it and now I like it quite a bit. Interesting factoid about Medici in SPINACH (14A: Catherine de'Medici is said to have eaten it at every meal), and, being half Finnish myself, I enjoyed FINNS (23A: Fjord explorers?). I did not particularly enjoy XOO (16A: Losing line in tic-tac-toe), XER (21A: Ballot marker), or that damn AFTA (55D: Aqua Velva alternative), but that's not much, and besides, we've got the excellent KUNGFU (18D: A master of this really knows his chops), the very nice LANCELOT (39D: Model of chivalry), the tricky SANGRIA (42A: Strong punch), and YUMYUM (48D: "The Mikado" maiden). Any reference to the Mikado is ok in my book.
Overall, very nice. Keep 'em comin'!
- Horace
13:47. FWOE, because I put pCS in at 8D (Some LG appliances: ACS), and didn't cross check wtih 7A. I had a hard time with the NW corner, due to GOPFFT, which is certainly unusual. It took me a long time to see SANGRIA. I liked CARLORFF, YUMYUM of course, and LANCELOT ("Concorde, your death will not be in vain!").
ReplyDelete14:01
ReplyDeleteThis time seems familiar. I'm going to check after I'm finished with this comment, but I think one other puzzle this week, perhaps yesterday's, was finished in the same time. CARLORFF reminded me of Karloff, so I liked it. I've never heard of Mr. Orff. CALC was nice to see again, even though it's been appearing somewhat frequently lately, but there wasn't' any Huygens material today. At least there wasn't much ROT (nicely crossed, by the way, with POT (53A Ballot topic for decriminalization)).