Nice to get a little rebus-action on a Sunday. The trick today is to KEEP[IT]TOGETHER (118A: Stay cool ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme) in such answers as CRED[IT]ORDEB[IT] (31A: Question asked at the cash register), [IT]SYB[IT]SYSPIDER (58D: Climber in a children's rhyme), and PATERN[IT]YSU[IT] (107A: Way to get to know a father in law?). That last one has the best clue of the day, and possibly the whole month. Excellent.
The cluing was generally quite good today, I thought. I enjoyed the trio of Q clues - 71A: Q neighbors (RST), 74A: Q neighbor (TAB), and 78A: Q preceder, in song (SUSIE), and there were plenty of other clever ones, like 17D: Something with two sides? (ENTREE), 115A: Lead-up to mating (ENDGAME), and 102D: The first to go on a strike, usually (ONEPIN). That's quality material.
The title today, however, seems a little off. I suppose it should really have been "Make it a double," but that would have given too much away. But now "Make that a double" doesn't really feel quite right. It's a small complaint, though. And if I were to lodge a few more small complaints, they might refer to the difficult medical clues for FASCIA (54D: Tissue surrounding a muscle) (but the crosses were fair) and THYMUSES (69A: Chest organs). I actually had an error in that second one, because I had forgotten that PURL (65D: It's a stitch) was spelled with a U. Frannie will not be happy with me about that!
1A: What an urgent message may be in (ALLCAPS) gets a B. Not bad. Overall, I enjoyed this puzzle.
Tomorrow, finally, after two months without him, you get Colum back for a full month of reviews! Happy puzzling!
- Horace
What a great Sunday puzzle! Top quality throughout, in my opinion. More challenging than the typical Sunday fare, especially with the rebus, which was extremely well done. I like that they got both F[IT]B[IT] and N[IT]W[IT].
ReplyDeleteGreat Sunday. I had italicS for 1A briefly. COLDCOCK (72A Knock unconscious) is fantastic. ET59 probably would enjoy 124A Singer with an eponymous 1956 #1 album (ELVIS), although it would probably be a gimme for him. I agree about the all-around excellence about PATERN[IT]YSU[IT]. BUSTAGUT and GREASER are great, both for their answers and clues.
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