Timing is everything in daily crosswords. Entries like RAGEQUIT and BROMANCE amused and delighted me the first time I encountered them in a grid, but this time - perhaps only the third or so time that I've seen both - they're just sort of... well... they're ok. They suffer now, I think, more than is fair, really, because they're words that should be great, but the air has been taken out of them a bit.
Anyhoo... my error came at GST (9D: Astronomers' std.), which I had entered as GmT. My incorrect answer gave "mORELY" for 16A: Very much (SORELY), but after "skyey," I thought, "Well, who knows how far they will go.. maybe this is right?" It's one time I was actually happy to be wrong.
I did like DECOR (20A: Look inside), DATASET (25A: Table material), RANRAMPANT (30D: Went unchecked), AYE (60D: Word that sounds like a letter of the alphabet that's not in it), and THROB (49D: Pound).
I thought the clue on ASBESTOS (66A: Frowned-upon construction material) was a little too cute, because it's not so much "frowned-upon" as illegal. And there's kind of a lot of old-school crosswordese like NAFTA, OREM, IDES, and ESME. Not to mention MAS, PAS, and BAS... oh, I don't know. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. I'll still give 1A a B+, because I love that term, and I guess I'll give it a tepid thumbs up. Hey, I'm on vacation.
Also, here's a funny story - I tried "young," then "blond" before getting UNWED (6D: Like all contestants on "The Bachelor." If I had been my dad, I might have even tried "girls."
OK, that's all until tomorrow. Thanks for reading!
- Horace
15:28
ReplyDeleteI liked the clue for STARGAZE, and YOUHEARDME is very good. TAXEVASION is surprisingly au courant in its cluing. I wanted TAXEVAders but couldn't make it work with ELAINE, which I immediately knew was correct. I very much liked the clue for AYE. I went with ewE first. There were also several nice surprises in spelling such as LAZBOY, MRMET, and TUMBLR. I guess I liked it better than you.
12:24
ReplyDeleteWe started with RAGEQUIT.. actually, we both said RAGEQUIT out loud and entered UNWED off the imagined "U," then put in RAGEQUIT, then EDD Hall, and we have a Highlander. I guess it was one of those puzzle where nothing fooled us (20A: Look inside > DECOR, 25A: Table material: DATASET, 4D: Hall of Fame on TV, etc., seemed obvious today) and only a few things to work through.
I liked LABAMBA. It's dated now, even the Los Lobos reprise in the 1980s, but I've sung it many times in my life, so it's a gimme. And ASBESTOS gets more of a pass from me. Yes, it is now illegal to install, but it still exists in many homes and, when present, can cause angst and frowns with home buyers and home inspectors. It's actually a darn good insulation material when not disturbed, so it's often better to leave it place. But for many with only partial information, it is frown-producing.
49:19 DNF
ReplyDeleteThe north did me in. I couldn't see RAGEQUIT, even though I had RAG___I_, and obviously wasn't able to get the downs off of that. The rest was relatively easy. I agree with Icarus Fob regarding asbestos; if it's there, leave it be.