Kind of a fun theme of people who have famously crossed things. I kept waiting for "Caesar" and "Rubicon," but it never came. Instead we have MAGELLAN crossing the PACIFIC, WASHINGTON crossing the DELAWARE, and LINDBERGH crossing the ATLANTIC, among others. I like to think, also, of a CLERIC crossing a SLIPNSLIDE, Ben VEREEN crossing his EYEs. OK, those are just ridiculous and I didn't really think of them until just now. Sorry. I guess I enjoyed it, but I tend to want a little more fun in my Sunday themes.
1A: Like good whiskey (SMOOTH) I give an A-. I put it right in, but I was not 100% sure of it. I think my first definite answer was PEPA (26A: Rap's Salt-N-____), a name I will always associate with Patrick Stewart, because I can still hear him announcing them as the musical guest on SNL. Just imagine it. It's awesome.
The fill included some things that I did not love, like XOUTS (63A: Deletions), LDRS (38D: C.E.O. and pres.), and IDED (75A: Picked as the one, say). I complained yesterday or the day before about assumed apostrophes, and now they've combined an abbreviation with an assumed apostrophe. Yuck.
I did like BEAUXGESTES, CHURN (13D: Milk shaker), PLACARD (27D: Protester's sign), and others. Let's call it a wash.
- Horace
38:54 (FWOE)
ReplyDeleteThe cross of LUCREZIA/ANZIO got me. I entered a "t" and didn't check the down cross, so there you go. I hated XOUTS, but was happy to see the YANGTZE in there, a river I hope to cruise some time. I never heard of the BEREZINA, but I now know that NAPOLEON crossed it. I thought it a fun enough Sunday, and it only fell short of my new 40-minute goal by 1:06, so it was almost perfect. Finally, I remember the great view of the island of LANAI out of our 24th-floor hotel room on Maui. Very nice.
Yeah, it was okay. I'd add GIBER to your list of words I never want to encounter in life, let along in a crossword puzzle. Played about right in terms of difficulty. PEPA was my first answer as well, and as always, whenever I see that band's name, I think of Patrick Stewart shouting it out on SNL. Good times.
ReplyDelete