My time brings to mind a jet plane - in a way. But in another way, not so much. It's more than twice the gold standard for a Monday puzzle, but I'm not sure I could complete a grid in three minutes even if all the letters were the same. But, enough about me, let's get to today's puzzle.
I found this puzzle's theme charming and entertaining. It's the kind of theme I wish I could come up with. My dream of getting a puzzle published in the NYT continues to elude me, but that's not why you called me here (I guess it wasn't quite enough about me after all). The clue/answer pairs created some nice IMAGERY. My favorite theme entry might be DUSTJACKET (article of outerwear for a housekeeper?), but CHEVYBLAZER (article of outerwear for a General Motors employee?) made me LOL. Really they are all very good. A fun idea carried off with 62A.
Another plus is that the rest of the grid wasn't sacrificed to support the theme. We have quite a few threes, but only one of them was clued with Abbr. A triumph! It's true that 1A isn't the most engaging kickoff clue and answer ever, but as it was immediately followed by CASK (Wine barrel), I'm pretty sure the FDA was quickly forgotten.
I have a special fondness for the word BROGAN (32A. Ankle-high work shoe). Unfortunately, as one so rarely sees that word, I first entered its uglier and more common cousin, chukka. The B of brogan sprouted another fan favorite, BOT, excellently clued with Droid (32D).
SEGO lily, BAL Harbour, Fla., and RIAS (inlets) aren't in my everyday vocabulary basket, but they didn't cause me any trouble thanks to the solid surrounding clues like RAINHAT and BYTE. IRKSOME, BEESWAX, INKLING, and ACROBAT are also nice.
FINI.
~Frannie.
4:07 (FWOE)
ReplyDeleteI was zipping through this puzzle when I came to 51A: ____ Harbor, Fla. I already had BA_, failed to notice the Floridian location, and confidently slapped an R in there. Apparently a GUrL is not actually a bird at all. Who knew?
Anyway, I love this puzzle too. Great theme, fun answers, some nice extra 7-letter answers in each corner. Wins all around.
6:29
ReplyDeleteWins, that is, except for the Frannie-mentioned FDA, which gets an F. And if that weren't bad enough, we end with EXT. Other than a few small problems like that (UPS, FGS, SST and GTO), this is a solid puzzle and excellent theme that will SATE one's Monday appetite.
5:07
ReplyDeleteEverybody loves wacky cluing for normal words! And yeah, those sevens are kind of luxurious on a Monday.
BLASE looks weird without the accent.