For some reason, this theme kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Even though PRIVATEINVESTMENTS (90A: GI dressed like a priest?) and CRIMINALINTENT (110A: Felon at a campground?) are pretty funny, there are at least two others of the seven that just don't work for me. FIGHTINJUSTICE (23A: Dispute between Loretta Lynch and her coworkers?) What is that? A fight about justice? Even that doesn't sound right. And COURTINJUNCTION (64A: Municipal building located where major roads intersect) - at the junction, maybe. I mean, I get it, it's a clever idea when it works, but it doesn't work all the time.
Never heard of LUNN (76A: Sally ____ (sweet bun)), ODU (85A: Sch. in Norfolk, VA) (Old Dominion University), or 98A: Play ____ with (harm) (HOB) (What the?). IDLEST is POOR. PIGIT? LATEPASS? Isn't that just called a note from home? RIMY? ELROPO?
It wasn't all bad, though. 27A: Naval bases? (KEELS) and 33A: Fowl pole? (ROOST) were two I liked. 66D: Like some peanuts and celebrities (ROASTED) was nice. QUADRUPEDS (69D: Most mammals) and its neighbor UNSUITABLE (70D: Not appropriate) are both good. But overall, this wasn't my favorite Sunday.
- Horace
p.s. The image for today, by the way, is the reverse of The Great Seal. If, like me, you tried "unum" at first, it was a sensible attempt.
Didn't love it either. Since Loretta Lynch is USAG, she and her coworkers work in the Dept. of Justice: thus they "fight in Justice". Frankly, they weren't funny enough. SISTERINLAW? I mean, the idea of a nun arguing a case is cute, but the "in-law" part of the phrase is already two words in my mind. I too had a lot of difficulty with ELROPO/LUNN/ODU. I feel that section should have been reworked. QUADRUPEDS is lovely, but what a price we had to pay for that to be in there.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Colum on the ELROPO/LUNN/ODU crosses; that section took a great deal of my time. I don't agree with the two-word inlaw thing, though; that's one word. I think that BRAININJURY was good, too, if a bit insensitive. I, also, didn't love this one, but I can't complain too much since it timed in right where I like a Sunday to fall. This is the second puzzle in a short while to feature the word "sleaze." Today it was SLEAZES, and recently we had SLEAZEBALL. ASS shows up quite often in one form or another, but today's clue was especially nice (89A Dummkopf).