Lots of good vocabulary here: LEACH, GINUP, ALEUT, SCUT. The spell check in this blog editor doesn't even think scut's a word; it is underlined in edit mode as if it were an error. Ha.
We were INLUCK with several fun clues and answers including 27D. Fast results? (PANGS), 16A. Where lines are drawn? (ARTI), 34A. Gone badly? (AWOL), and 37A. British thrones? (LOOS),
It was nice to see local favorite NECCO in the grid. According to the Wikipedia. Necco produced its one trillionth Necco Wafer candy in the fall of 2010, In another pleasant surprise, the great Phil OCHS popped up at 38A. ("Draft Dodger Rag" singer). Some recent events make one miss his voice more than ever. :|
I'll also say YEA to all the European flair: NEUER, EPEE, ARNO, EUROS, PIAF, TREVI. Good TIMES.
To cavil a bit, I don't Cotton Bowl to this puzzle's spelling of 46D. Laughter sound (TEHEE). If the T part is to be pronounced like the H part, why not spell them the same way? And don't say 1517 years of language history. And if you are meant to pronounce the first part with a short e, don't. It just might make me swear a big, big D.
THATSIT.
~Frannie.
8:22
ReplyDeleteI love the long answers here, especially 11D: Red square (TRIPLEWORDSCORE). That's good stuff. The corners suffer from being stuck by the crossings of two long answers. Thus 1A: Figs. in many police procedurals (SGTS) gets a D+ for starting with an abbreviation. For once I didn't fall for 45D: Capital of France (EUROS). It's a really good puzzle, but too easy for a Saturday.
23:07
ReplyDeleteI also thought this ran a bit easy for a Saturday. There were no real slowdowns (EUROS didn't get me, either). I enjoy "Orange Is the New Black," making TAYLORSCHILLING go right in with only a couple of crosses, but all of the long downs are, indeed, great. Excellent clue for ILSA, and somewhat misdirecting as Rick could fit there, too. I think that Colum is too kind with his D+ rating for SGTS; that's a solid F IMHO.