It's a straightforward theme: the four main types of taste sensations are represented in the first words of the theme answers. I like all the phrases, but SOURPATCHKIDS is weaker than the other three because the word "sour" is used here to mean the taste sensation. In all the others, it's metaphorical.
The revealer wasn't really needed: I saw what was happening well before I got to the last answer. As revealers go, however, TASTEMAKERS is fine. I've heard the term before, so it's in common enough parlance to be of interest.
I had a little difficulty getting out of the NW and the middle N. UPTOSPEED wanted to be UPTOSnuff in my head, but I didn't put it in because it seemed a little... well, not up to snuff, if you catch my drift. Similarly, ONEBYONE wanted to be ONEatatime, but that didn't fit. I also wasn't sure about the ending of RUSHWEEK. No frats or sororities in my undergraduate existence.
So I was a little surprised that I hadn't posted a longer time. It helped that both the SW and NE corners I was able to fill in with only the down answers. Some nice answers elsewhere included NEATNIK and KODAKS (although I don't love the plural here; at least it's better than OMEGAS, or SPATES, for that matter).
I knew Nicolas ROEG's name, but didn't know he directed The Witches. I recall Walkabout as being a very good movie.
1A: ____ above (better than) (ACUT) gets an F, I'm afraid. It's a partial to start a puzzle. 1D: Jessica of "Dark Angel" (ALBA) was my first solid entry.
Not a bad Monday.
6:31
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with the F for ACUT...terrible. I didn't like POPOFF being right next to ZIT. You covered all of the important points: straightforward theme, decently done, some junk, some terrible plurals. Decent start to the week, I guess. My favorite is probably 54D "Put up your ____!" (DUKES), because it's a bit old-timey.
6:18 (FWOE)
ReplyDeleteI thought this ran a little tougher than some Mondays do. I'm not sure how, but I had a different letter at the top of ONEBYONE, so that was was weird. I guess I must have had something else for POPOFF (which is not familiar to me and which I don't particularly like) but overall, I thought the whole thing was decent. Well... except maybe for YOO.
Definitely the puzzle of the silly plurals (OMEGAS, SPATES, KODAKS, MAS, TSPS). And I wanted CURLy and MOWed until I counted the letters and found I was closer than I thought. To continue the theme I guess I could have tried SWEeped but I didn't think of that until now . Cute to be reminded that ARLO Guthrie was at Woodstock (which means he had been famous for a while by the time I heard him in concert in the 1980s).
ReplyDeleteFavorite answer? Probably ENAMEL. Not for a wonderful clue, just because there's something pleasing about the alternating vowels and consonants, and apparently I'm in the mood for that.
Definitely the puzzle of the silly plurals (OMEGAS, SPATES, KODAKS, MAS, TSPS). And I wanted CURLy and MOWed until I counted the letters and found I was closer than I thought. To continue the theme I guess I could have tried SWEeped but I didn't think of that until now . Cute to be reminded that ARLO Guthrie was at Woodstock (which means he had been famous for a while by the time I heard him in concert in the 1980s).
ReplyDeleteFavorite answer? Probably ENAMEL. Not for a wonderful clue, just because there's something pleasing about the alternating vowels and consonants, and apparently I'm in the mood for that.