Friday, February 10, 2017, Kyle Mahowald

16:28

There's some really good stuff in this Friday themeless, and it was definitely tough as well, so I was pleased with it. I don't love the somewhat fractured nature of the grid: I'm used to more swathes of white squares on a weekend, but it flowed well enough.

I actually hit on 1A: Epiglottis, for one (FLAP), which I give a B, evening out the clever clue with the sort of nasty thought of an epiglottis in general. We all have one, just like Dan Ayckroyd said about your uvula on SNL ("It'll behoove ya to care for your uvula..."). Getting 1A didn't make things go much faster because of the way the corner is sectioned off. I liked the pair of "plugs" clues: odd that only MALEs are likely to use TOUPEES.

JESSEEISENBERG is fun to see in the grid, with all those vowels in a row, not to mention that it's his full name. I don't love him as an actor, but he was good in The Social Network. 15D: "You said it!" (ILLDRINKTOTHAT) makes me think of the "The Ladies Who Lunch" from Company by Stephen Sondheim. ("And one for Mahler!" You don't get to hear that sort of thing too much these days).

It took forever to see MINECRAFT because I had bEAT at 58A: Coup (FEAT). I was thinking of the definition of "blow or strike", so that B left me with _INECRAB_. Wine Crabs? Could it be some peculiar app, mixing alcohol and STDs? Seemed unlikely.

This was never me

11D: Waiter outside a seafood restaurant, maybe (ALLEYCAT) made me laugh. It works so hard to get there! DATASCIENTIST though was an unknown to me. I had DATA_C_EN____ for quite some time, and since BOITO was known to me only vaguely, I needed that S to figure it out.

My only real quibble is ACMES, which I've touched on before. Too many superlatives - for example: Tom Brady and Joe Montana are the greatests of all times. I don't buy it.

ANDSCENE!

- Colum