A very enjoyable Saturday themeless. I broke in with AESOP, fresh off of Thursday's use of the same entry, and immediately put ESKIMOKISS in at 17A. I even entered HYENA, NOEL, HIM, and TSKS in the same quadrant, but my mind couldn't parse what was necessary for the other long acrosses, so I moved on. I do feel that, like Horace has mentioned in comments recently, if I had done this puzzle cooperatively, I would have finished a good deal faster.
The next place I found purchase was in the SW. I like the dual "Wager" entries of PLACEABET and OVER, and 59A: Solution for poor eyesight? (RENU) is cute. LERNER is a gimme for me, as was THECURE. I love SNARFS! What a great word. EBOLA is not as pleasant an image. In any case, this gave me the entire SE quickly.
It's a nice set of 3 long answers: ROCKGARDEN, FLOODLIGHT, and SANDPAPERS; although I dislike the use of the last in a verb form, the clue is good ("Takes the edge off?"). 44D: Retweeting of rave reviews, possibly (EGOTRIP) is outstanding. On the other hand, the use of ONEHR is not great.
Working into the middle of the puzzle, I had OINK (another nice clue), but no feeling of how to proceed. I got the trick in 36A: Something to keep a watch on (WRIST), and 29D: Colon, on a test (ISTO) briefly had me thinking of gastrointestinal procedures before I cottoned to the SAT reference. FREECLIMB is excellent: I initially had "soloCLIMB" before getting that without assistance means with no ropes, etc. My one error in the puzzle came at 30D: Modern collection of vendors (ETSY). I had MTn at 40A, and I thought, oh yeah, "Etny", that website where you can buy directly from the artists. Oh, well.
Got CLOWNCAR (very nice clue there), which opened up the middle, and helped me finish the middle W and then the NW. HATCHETJOB is very good, as is YEAHIMSURE. Has anybody ever eaten a SCOTCHEGG? Looks a little artery-clogging, don't you think?
Other nice things to mention: 22A: Not together (APIECE) in the same row as 25A: All together (ENBLOC). 38A: Used as a base (STOODON) was not what I was thinking about at all when I first saw the clue. 10D: Words before a date (BESTBY) always gets me. 14D: Part of a countdown (SONG) made me want to put a number in. CHESHIRE is a nice entry with a good piece of trivia clue.
Very nice.
- Colum
36:02
ReplyDeleteMy error came on the KRONOR/RANTS cross. I put KRONOs in which gave the nonsensical sANTS on the down. Oh well. I had EbaY at first instead of ETSY, EcOLi instead of EBOLA, and ScARFS instead of SNARFS, all fixed quickly. I've never eaten a SCOTCHEGG, and it doesn't look like something that I would try as they seem to contain pork. Kind of an easy Saturday, I thought. CHESHIRE was great, and I should probably read Mr. TAKEI's book at some point.
Whoops. I forgot to put "FWOE" after that time.
DeleteAS Horace has mentioned.
ReplyDeleteScotch eggs are yummy. Want some.
Glad to have you commenting, Mom!
Delete