It's June first already?! Where does the time go? Why, only last month it was May, and before that, it was winter. Oh well. I guess it does seem rather tidy to start up again with the reviews on a Monday, and today we get a type of theme that I, for one, rather enjoy. The sound "sole" is taken through different spellings by way of four phrases; two 15-letters and two ten-letters. The least familiar to most solvers, I'm guessing, will be SOLCERVEZA (17A: Popular Mexican brew). The other three are all quite well known. My favorite is SEOULSOUTHKOREA (48A: Where Kia and Hyundai are headquartered), because it looks so good to have the whole thing spelled out and spanning the whole grid.
The other two long answers (also ten-letters) are both very good. JUNECARTER (11D: Wife portrayed in 2005's "Walk the Line") is always welcome, and LIQUOREDUP (29D: Three sheets to the wind) is fun to have in a Monday puzzle, if, sadly, inappropriate for a work night. (Full disclosure - Frannie and I are heading out to a bar within the hour.)
And the good fill doesn't stop there! We have ARSENIC, SURREAL, LOVEIN, INHEELS, and KIOSK, which are all lively. And if you read 43A: (Letter-shaped fastener) and 44D: (Shows oral disapproval) (couldn't they have worded that differently?) together, it makes both of them more fun - TNUTUTTUTS!
Maybe it's just because it's my first day back, but I don't really find much to complain about. Sure, ISM, CEE, INC, and DOS aren't great, and I'd include ULM in that group if it didn't remind me of this:
In short, I enjoyed this puzzle. I hope you did too. See you tomorrow!
- Horace
6:37
ReplyDeleteI won't watch that MP clip since I'm on my device, but I'm sure that I'm quite familiar with it as I rarely think of poor Einstein any longer when I think of ULM, and I DO think of ULM. I'm not familiar with SOLCERVEZA but if it were available in 1/6-keg size, I'd try it. I liked REESE as Ms. Carter better than JUNECARTER herself; great that they were side-by-side in the grid. PISA reminds me of Italy, even though we didn't stop there on our tour. ANAL. Good clue for NAZI, although most probably wouldn't have needed the "Seinfeld" reference.
Love the Monty Python reference!
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