Monday, June 5, 2017

Monday, June 5, 2017, Paul Coulter

8:34

Even though the TIRE theme - eight circled Os representing a bad thing to blow - one of the many! - left me a little flat, I did think there were some zippy clues for some airless old answers like 64A. Soothing succulents (ALOES), 51A. Busy bee in Apr. (CPA), and 69A. Some whistle blowers (REFS).

On the other hand, I was pumped about JILT (9A), ZESTS (3D) - despite the pesky pluralizing - and TESLACOIL, which just sounds cool to me.

Did anyone else watch Bonanza back in the day? 37D reminded me of an episode in which Hoss is out looking for leprechauns and Little Joe sneaks up on him. There are a lot of YOOHOOS in the scene. A Bonanza of Yoohoos

Other good grid grist: EFFIGY, TROPE, MOLT, MANGY, SETTO, TOR, COOT, and INANE.
However, we aren't getting out of here without a TSK or two. I didn't like the clue for 27D. Lasso loop (NOOSE); it seems weird to think of a lasso being used for a noose. I though CANIO at 32D was a bit of a stretch for a Monday, although the crosses were all fine. (Mr. Amory might (or might not :) have enjoyed 49A TOESHOES in that section of the puzzle). And maybe the truncated (If) NEEDBE at 47D isn't ideal, but there was more good than bad, to my eye.

Oh yes, and I'm boffo for BOZO! And Doofus for that matter (1A). :) I give it an APLUS.

~Frannie
Posted by at

4 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 5, 2017 at 8:43 PM

    The 1A clues have been pretty weak lately, so I agree that anything not abbreviated, and with a Z, probably deserves an A+ at this point.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jim KingdonJune 5, 2017 at 9:33 PM

    Had ONeHOP before ONAHOP and hOOHOOs before YOOHOOS so the west was a bit slow. You see, I too was getting CANIO from crosses. I mean I've seen the opera and the character is memorable, but the name? Not so much so.

    I was especially glad to see HARRISONFORD. Especially with a non Star Wars clue. Why is this any better than all the movie clues I often complain about? I don't know, maybe just that I knew it? I'm having trouble coming up with a more principled reason than that.

    LINCOLNPENNY was nice and all the more so seeing it as the image for the blog. I don't need principle for that, I'll stand on coppery shininess.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Colum AmoryJune 5, 2017 at 9:55 PM

    4:14
    This is a debut puzzle, I see, and so props for that. On the other hand, I thought I had seen this theme before, and I was correct, about 3 years ago by one of my favorite erstwhile NYT constructor, Liz Gorski. So points off for that. It was fine.

    ReplyDelete
  4. HuygensJune 6, 2017 at 2:34 PM

    7:25
    Agree on BOZO, who appears with two other proper names in the NW, namely ARES and TESLA. With ELMO, HARRISONFORD, LINCOLN, BONO, AIDA, OSLO and CANIO (definitely not Monday fodder), that may be a bit too much for my taste. Gotta love a NUDE, though.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)