I'm all too familiar with bed frames recently, as Frannie and I have been trying to empty out her family's seven-bedroom home. And somehow there were even more beds than bedrooms!
Today's puzzle runs through the standard bedframe sizes, Twin, Full, Queen, and King, using four well-known answers. The first, TWINPEAKS (17A: 1990s TV series about a murder in a town in Washington) is the weakest, because A, the show is 25 years old, and B, that show was set in Washington? Which one was it that was set in Alaska?
The theme is fine. Mr. Fogarty went a little heavy on the French today, with CREPE, EPEE, NEE, ADIEU, ETRE, and the third-person singular subjunctive form AIT. I'd almost rather it be (see what I did there? I used third-person singular subjunctive...) clued as a small island. At least that would appear in an English dictionary. Anyway, seems a little rough for a Monday. Especially with the somewhat tricky cluing of GOATHERD (9D: Job that might involve watching the kids?). Nice answer, though, GOATHERD.
Other bright spots include QUACK (49D: Phony doc) (Colum, does the profession use this word? Or is it taboo?), SKELETON (28A: Exhibit in an anatomy class), and the possibly controversial BOYTOY (42A: Young male viewed as a sex object). 1A: AIRS (Puts on TV or radio) gets a D+. The puzzle overall, though, is more of a wash. Good theme, some good fill, kind of a lot of NOAA, ALA, ICES ... and I've never really believed that NERTS (12D: "Rats!") is a real expression.
- Horace
3:12
ReplyDeleteOver quickly. I liked ILLPASS and UNSHORN. Since QUACKs by definition aren't in my profession, I don't mind the term at all!
Also, I think you're thinking of Northern Exposure.
DeleteAhhh yes. Thank you. Never watched either of them.
Delete4:53
ReplyDeletePretty fast for me. Decent Monday and good theme. Even the French offerings were FAIR. TWINPEAKS was a good show; it was all the rage in its day, so the fact that it's 25 years old is OK with me.
Yeah, I was like NERTS?????? too.
ReplyDeletePlayed a bit harder than usual for me, but not very much so. And I did like GOATHERD (I'll take tricky over obscure any day, and it isn't all that tricky).
RAINDELAY, THEYSAY, and UNSHORN are also nice, even if the first two are clued very straightforwardly.