Lettuce begin with a discussion of today's theme. Each clue is addressing a salad type by way of an actor's last name. LEEJCOBB is not a name that gets tossed around much these days, so I had a little trouble with that one (more on that below), but SIDCAESAR and ORSONBEAN were not rocket science. Never having seen "Road Trip," I first entered benGREEN, but I quickly had cause to vinaigrette that one. The clue I found most nice was 34A. Passing mention OBIT. And if you think the structure of the previous sentence is a bit tortured, it was necessary. I had to squeeze in another salad-related Bon MOT.
I enjoyed ATOMIZE (Reduce to particles), Sponge (MOOCHER), Behave (COMPORT), SERE (Bone-dry), and SPASTIC (Moving jerkily), but I was not making any sounds of satisfaction when completing 37D. Winnebago owner, briefly (RVER), Asian electronics giant (NEC), "Breaking Bad" network (AMC). or when typing NAT, TRI, and AKC in the south east.
Today's 1A clue and answer were cute (Pop fan? MOM). Especially excellent when it's a three-letter slot and the apparently significant temptation is to fill such slots with abbreviations.
The answers in the north east struck me as a rather tortured group: ABBACY (valid but awfully rare for a Tuesday), COINOPS (for the machines themselves), AEROBAT (where does he do his laundry?), all sitting on top of the troublesome LEEJCOBB.
Not much Huygens material today except NAKED. The clue was "In the buff," but how about "Undressed" to go with today's theme?
~Frannie
DNF
ReplyDeleteVery clever, Ms. Page.
I was chopped, as it were, by never having heard of LEEJCOBB, which I actually ended up guessing correctly, but I had entered MAChU up at 8A (MACAU) without good cause and without re-checking it, so although I only ended up with one error, I did an awful lot of guessing elsewhere before finding it.
I'm getting nervous with less than two weeks to go to the ACPT! I've gotta clean up my game!
4:47
ReplyDeleteVery nice review. I thought the puzzle got off to a good start with the trio of down answers (MANSMAN, ONEIOTA, and MICDROP). RVER elicited a true groan from me. Ouch. Mostly I liked it, though.
15:35
ReplyDeleteSo I know I'm not very good at actors, but when I've only heard of one out of four, I remind myself that I'm going to the ACPT not for trophies but for the constructors, atmosphere, and spectating. And I only got LEEJCOBB/JADA by running the alphabet. TBIRD and PAYPAL are nice (as in, not overused). HOLYARK was kind of fun because I first said, "well, ark isn't 7 letters, but I suppose all those individual doors and cloths and boxes and what not probably have names", only to find my original impulse was closer than I thought. Oh, and MICDROP is another way to keep it feeling up to date.
Yeah... I'm not out to win any trophies in Stamford either, but I would still like to finish more puzzles correctly than I did last year, which I think was only three. :(
Delete8:52
ReplyDeleteLEEJCOBB, the "C" anyway, was a guess for me since I didn't realize the theme until I was done. MICDROP is great. I entered strad at 62A Prized violin (AMATI) prior to getting any crosses and prior to realizing there was no need for an abbreviation based on the clue. AWGEEZ crossing ATOMIZE is nice. ATOMIZE is kind of theme-based - isn't that sometimes used for dressing? MOOCHER is great and I loved COMPORT. Fun Wednesday (I knew three of the four theme actors).
Of course, I meant "Tuesday" above, but usually write about these puzzles the day after.
Delete17:57 FWOE
ReplyDeleteI actually finished this in about 13 minutes, but spent the next 4-5 looking for my error, which turned out to also be in MACAo. It's silly because oSD means nothing, of course. But I guessed at the "J" in LEEJCOBB and didn't know JADA, so I was trying a lot of permutations.
Anyway, COINOPS is absolutely fine. It's a very common term for coin operated washers and dryers in rental properties. I own some COINOPS, use that term to talk about them with prospective tenants and they all understand it and use the same term.