I don't know… "Fee" "Fi" Fo" Fum," and Jack, the Giant, and the BEANSTALK (21D: Storied locale for the circled letters in 8- and 65-Across)? I guess when you spell it all out it seems like a lot, but it doesn't really seem like a lot when you look at it. I might not go so far as to say it RANKLES (54A: Vexes), but it's not a GASSER (47D: Real hoot), so to speak. Gasser. Hmph. And I suppose BADSEED (38A: Wayward offspring, informally) is supposed to be theme material, too, in a way.
It must have been tricky to work it out, though, because we end up with lots of EZINE, AGAR, ILLE, NANU, CAF, SARG, GABLER, RARA, GLO, and whatnot. On the brighter side, I'll take SINEW (13D: Muscle), RETRACT (59A: Take back, as a false charge), ESCALLOP (39D: Bake in a sauce), EARTHY (28A: Coarse, as humor), and ENABLER (20A: One helping an addict) all day long.
So… not really my cup of tea, but not terrible. Perhaps you enjoyed it more than I did.
- Horace
21:40
ReplyDeleteNot so much (enjoyed it, that is). I was bogged down in the SE with OCEANUS, PEACE (52D "Ciao"), ESCALLOP, the aforementioned GASSER (terrible) and BASE (58D Diamond bag), which took much, much longer than it should have and was, I might add, a great clue. But I did not enjoy REARLIT (17A Illuminated from behind), or EARTHY (28A Coarse, as humor); I've not heard either of those terms used. I did like seeing NEZ and TRIBE side by side, even though the former was not clued for the well known Nez Perce tribe; I suppose the glasses may be more well-known.