A pleasing theme today, running all around the grid with a cross in the middle. It seems to me, someone who has never constructed a puzzle, that it must be on the easy side, just having "IT" in every theme answer, but then, what do I know?
Difficulty aside, I still like the entries. All of them. A FRUITSALAD (17A: *Chilled appetizer or dessert) would be lovely right about now, SPLITSCREEN (24D: *Feature of many a TV interview) makes me realize that it's something Charlie Rose almost never uses on his show, and QUITSMOKING (11D: *Kick the habit, say) is sound advice.
The NW has some of the usual stuff, like LIU, SELA, and SPF (didn't we just see this?), and the same is true of the other tight areas. There's also REATAS, EGIS, and EVERTS (30D: Turns inside out). I thought SESAMEOIL and KNEEBENDS were both good, though, and even BEFOGS (22D: Obscures) is ok in my book. BONGS (48A: Stoners' purchases) was a big surprise, too, when that turned out to be right. I tried "drugs" first.
I don't know… it's kind of a split decision I think.
- Horace
10:38. The theme is that "ITS" in the middle, not just IT, and each time it crosses the split. Does that make the theme a little meatier? Somewhat. An awful lot of names in here (SELA, ELLEN, GINA, ASSAM, KOSOVO, ORR, KEN). But I like TIBETAN's clue, and BONGS was a fun surprise. The cross of ANDHOW, OLEO, and WITS took a long time to see. It's a pretty good puzzle, not a great one.
ReplyDeleteRight - It's in there! Thanks. Do you remember those old commercials? I can hear the guy saying it with a Boston accent, but maybe that's just a false memory - Prego wasn't regional, was it?
ReplyDelete22:13
ReplyDeleteI found this slightly more difficult than a typical Wednesday, but not overly so, I guess. I starred 61A Yellow sub? (OLEO) as a particularly nice clue for that bit of crosswordese. Also, 22D Obscures (BEFOGS) and 25D *Time to retire? (PITSTOP) were both great. Some nice gems in there, and the theme, unknown to me until reading this blog since I rarely try to figure that out, is quite, as Colum says, meaty.