A tribute to one of my favorite books, THEJOYOFCOOKING, which is 85 years old this month! My well-worn copy comes off its shelf at least weekly to sit on the counter and help out with one thing or another. Most recently, it was rolled biscuits, to go with turkey soup. Mmm.... biscuits... I've never made TURKISH DELIGHT or CORNRELISH, but I do use a zester from time to time.
So good theme, but was there any other ENERGETIC (11D: Peppy) fill? Some. PENITENCE (8D: Display of remorse) is fancy, and I enjoyed seeing the word LIABLE (49D: Apt (to)). The "(to)" in its clue seemed appropriate, but do we really need the "on" in 6D: Commit arson on (TORCH)? Maybe. It is a Tuesday, after all. And speaking of a Tuesday, I was tripped up today by the Jewish cross of HAMAN (35A: Purim villain) and MOSAICLAW (36D: Contents of the Torah). Goyem that I am, I was not at all familiar with HAMAN, and guessed, somewhat amusingly, hopefully, "jOSAICLAW," I guess thinking it was something like "Josannah-ic." Sheesh. What a maroon.
Anywho... 1A: Croquet needs (PEGS) was tricky. I'll give it a B. My first confident entry was ATOP (5A: On), which, were I to grade it, would get a C-. But I don't.
Overall, I guess I wish for more to honor the book. The recipes are related by their mood - zest, delight, relish, and "joy," come to think of it. Well, ok, that's cute, but I don't like the split answer. And for this we have kind of a lot of crosswordsy-type stuff: ECRU, ASP, CLIO, ADO, ORCA, ENO, NAS, ARF, YALIE & ELIHU, NTH, AHA, etc. I like REDEYE (30A: It might end with an early touchdown) (great!), but there was a little too little of that today.
- Horace
5:42
ReplyDeleteA little tough for a Tuesday, but I like a little challenge. I don't like ALCOA, ELIHU, or YALIE (for obvious reasons). I do like REDEYE (agree that it's a great clue) and CEL, as well as the clue for HANOI and the strangely rarely seen OFTEN.
I got a lot of JOY out of it. Seeing the theme answers were cooking related was the first step, and then seeing zest, delight, and relish, well it was nice to see that fall into place.
ReplyDeleteAs for the fill, liked HINDU, GLOOM, RAFTS, TORCH and some others a little off the beaten path. Didn't finish because I had BaNk instead of BIND, but I wasn't going to get that from crosses (except maybe by guessing that ELaHU would be less likely than ELIHU).
Oh, and MOSAICLAW was a gimme once I had a few crosses, but obviously mileage varies on that one.
11:49 (FWOE)
ReplyDeleteI had the same error as Horace, guessing a "j" for the same reason. I also starred REDEYE as being particularly nice. And I don't much care for cooking, but even I take THEJOYOFCOOKING off the shelf from time to time for some assistance. Tried ORANGEpEel first, but the crosses set me straight. I agree that there is a bit too much TAR in this one, though. Amusing comment on OFTEN, Colum.