If you go by the theme of this puzzle, there *is* an accounting of tastes, and it is done on ABACI. OK, that's not true, but each taste is accounted for in the circled letters within five grid-spanning answers. My favorite is PUREMATHEMATICS. It has a great clue, the best taste sensation [UMAMI] and, who doesn't like math?
There are quite a few other entertaining clues in today's puzzle such as 37D. Nice location (RIVIERA), 67D. Pool contents? (GENES), and 61D. Noah count? (TWO). I also enjoyed 5A. Peter or Paul, but not Mary (TSAR), and 43A. Something one shouldn't make in public (SCENE),
The grid also features some words I like including ETCH, SITAR, CRAMS, USURP, BLOT, and HAR.
~Frannie
You picked out all my favorites!
ReplyDeleteFive 15-letter answers encompassing the tastes, and all five are solid answers. It would have been nice if the revealer had somehow suggested the hidden nature of the various types of tastes, but I can see how that would have been tough to fit in. Really nicely done.
ReplyDeleteHmm, Bollywood tracks have a lot more tabla than SITAR, but hey I'm sure the latter shows up too, so that's legit (and nice to see).
ReplyDeleteFor the longest time I was reading "concerning" as worrysome, and was wondering how on earth a lawyer could say that in only four letters (where do all the ifs ands and buts go?). But "on the topic of" isn't so bad that way, it just took me a few of the crosses, even for a piece of crosswordese like this.
The STATUEOFLIBERTY play in football is a real classic. I wonder if teams really use it in games (checks Wikipedia). Wikipedia says yes, from time to time but doesn't seem to be common.
Oh, and nice to see ITT clued as something other than the Addams Family. Well, at least for me, who knows the Telecom company; might be too obscure for some.
Jim, Boise State has used it fairly recently. It was the last, and game-winning, play of the 2007 Fiesta Bowl...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Wfg0n2EE8
and they used it again in somewhat less dramatic fashion in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s0c8Xik58A
13:15 (FWTE)
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing about ITT, Jim. And Icarus, can we call a decade ago "fairly recently?" My errors came at the TBA/WEILL/ANTE crossings, as I thought that TBd was perfectly reasonable, a vowel was then called for next at 69A, and I'd not heard of WEILL. In addition to what Frannie mentions, I enjoyed 26D Naval formation? (OUTIE), even with the question mark, which I forgave since it's a Tuesday. I agree that PUREMATHEMATICS is the best theme material by far. IUD shouldn't be mentioned, though, should it? It's like shoving "condom" in there. I couldn't imagine that would be tolerated by the public. I should work on my "All Blue" grid for this summer, done in a tasteful manner, of course.