I love seeing Pablo Pasco's name at the top of the crossword, because I know we'll get a clean and interesting grid, and today is no disappointment.
I broke in with the gimme at 6D: Reznor of Nine Inch Nails (TRENT), followed by the equally easy 23D: ____ Fierce (onetime Beyoncé alter ego) (SASHA). But there were few other gimmes.
There's much to like here. 1A: "Come again?" (WHATSTHAT) sounds like Grandpa Simpson in the tape recorder playing inside my mind. I give it an A-. I love 2D: Done for (HISTORY). That feels like such a fresh usage. 8D: On end, to Donne (ANAGRAM) is brilliant. I didn't see it coming until I had ANAGR__.
32A: Gendered "Seinfeld" accessory led me down the wrong road. I had MAN____ and decided to try MANsiere (also called "the Bro"), even though that was spelled with 2 Ss. Instead, it was MANPURSE.
I blinked at ERICA over DYNAST, figuring they'd put a duplicate in somehow. But closer examination of the clue at 26A showed no reference to the show Dynasty. Clever! Better, though, was BRINGITON over ITSGOTIME, both clued by "Let's do this!" I also love REBIRTH right next to DEMISE.
ESSENES is a bit of crosswordese, an unsurprising term to fit in at the end of a number of across answers with its crossword friendly collection of letters. Perhaps there's a reliance on too many names. But I still really enjoyed solving this puzzle.
Let's go Saturday!
- Colum
24:35
ReplyDeleteThis was typical time and difficulty for a Friday. I went right along, just getting held up briefly in the SE, never having seen ESSENES and needing a few crosses for the "Let's do this!" pair. I had HI__Y for 10D Good for sledding, say (HILLY) for a long while, not knowing either of the crosses, and those two Ls were my final entries. I was thinking of snow or ice, not terrain. I never heard of ILOVELA, or TOD (22A "The Fox and the Hound" fox). I thought the clue for CASEY (27D Batman?) was excellent, and BADEGGS is great. Excellent overall puzzle.
18:11
ReplyDeleteFunny, I thought of HILLY pretty quickly, but thought it was a tad off, since really, all you need is a single hill for good sledding. ANAGRAM was amazing, and I'm not sure I even really "got it" until reading this review, since it was filled in by crosses. EPITOME, GLEANED, WRESTED, MANPURSE... REBIRTH next to DEMISE... all excellent (although "slowly picked up" was tough for GLEANED). Really enjoyed this one, too!