Fitting, perhaps, that on the shortest day of the year I should complete a puzzle in what I think is the shortest amount of time I have ever taken. And that's with making a mistake right off the bat by entering "afros" for 1A: Raised hairstyles (UPDOS)! (I'll give it a B, partly because it tricked me.)
I liked the theme of "unnamed objects," which gave such nice answers as CONTRAPTION, WIDGET, and WHATCHAMACALLIT. Perhaps because of Nelson Muntz I think of DINGUS more as a name a bully might call you, but Google supports the NYT pretty well here. So overall, I like the theme.
The fill was solid, too, with very little that got my dander up. NES (50A: Nintendo's Super ____) might be about the worst of it, and there were the standard ALOE, TET, and EELS, but they're not bad per se, just overused. And I suppose some might say that TWOEGG (11D: Like a medium-size omelet) is a bit random, but, well, I don't mind. I like eggs, so HEYYOU, don't OBSESS!
Mostly shorter fill today, but Mr. Haight makes good use of the space with fill like DEADEYE, ARABIC, MONALISA, and SLEPT.
Favorite clue/answer - 22D: Ivana's ex, with "the" (DONALD). I enjoyed how the "with 'the'" was completely superfluous. And I also like how it's diagonally touching MADMAN.
Thumbs up.
- Horace
6:16
ReplyDeleteI starred MENLO Park because Sue and I just visited the museum there on our recent trip to NJ, and 12D "Psst!" because HEYYOU could have been clued with the Pink Floyd song, too. DEADEYE was great and the theme was fine for a Monday. I think that the clue for ATEAM was a bit verbose, and Mother TERESA's appearance is timely.
3:43
ReplyDeleteYou got me by a tick, Horace! Nice time. This puzzle was fine. I was definitely slowed by putting gaDGET at 44A, even after having already entered it at 52A. I like ONRYE, because that's what I'm going to be as soon as Hope gets back from picking the dog up. Bulleit, here we come!
Ha! Nice one.
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