Friday, July 21, 2017

Friday, July 21, 2017, Paolo Pasco

0:12:44

Anchored by the musical duo of BIGGIESMALLS and METALHEAD at the bottom, and the amusing "spoken word" pair of NOMEANSNO and INEEDAMOMENT up top, this themeless was fun all the way through.


I was fooled early on by "14A: Waterway whose construction began in Rome." I should definitely have known better on a Friday, but I still couldn't help counting out "aqueduct" to see if it would fit. Not that there was any one that was famously called "aqueduct" or anything, but, well... what can I say. I was further confused for a while by my incorrect "ArM" answer to 3D: Quarterback's asset (AIM), but finally, ERIECANAL became clear. Nice! I also loved JIFF for "5A: Flash," and FLOATS (8D: They might be wished for at fountains), although the latter did not fool me as much as the Rome clue did.

Love the politics in 25D: Nationalism, per Einstein (DISEASE) and the gender issue awareness in MALEGAZE (35D: Topic in feminist film criticism). And damn if I wasn't taken in yet again by 46D: Lawful ends? (ELLS). See, "lawful" starts and ends with an L. Egad. When. Will. I. Ever. Learn?

1A: Many consultants, for short (MBAS). D. But the puzzle as a whole overcame this weak start.
Favorite: 53D: They're game (ELK). I just love this kind of misdirection, and it's even better here because the collective noun has no S ending.
Least: Nothing. There were some answers that I just did not know, like ZAYN, GALOP, and NAENAE, but these are not puzzle problems, they're Horace problems. Sure, I could pick on RAS, or REMS - ok, I don't like that plural - but I'm not going to today, because this was a really good Friday puzzle.

- Horace
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2 comments:

  1. HuygensJuly 21, 2017 at 2:48 PM

    20:02 (FWOE)
    The LAIN/ZAYN cross got me, as I put in a "d" incorrectly, but it could have been "laid," right ET59? Although I guess not, since the act of reclining something would never be "laid," but would something that was reclined be said to be lain, or would it more properly be described as leaning? Anyway, it was a great Friday, mostly because I was able to run right through it, fixing things like the ArM/AIM thing that Horace mentioned in short order. Nice TRIVIA with the BIEL clue, since I never saw (see what I did there?) the remake. Also with GALOP, of which I'd never heard. Nice that ComicS fits right where CUTUPS belongs. There was ALLOT to like about today's puzzle, but DANG, ZAYN could have been left out.

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  2. Colum AmoryJuly 21, 2017 at 6:42 PM

    7:57 (FWOE) - I put in ArM as well and didn't catch the mistake until I got the message I'd made one. Very nice misdirection there, even more for me, as Rome, NY is not all that far from home. So much to like in this puzzle. Very smooth. I figured ZAYN out, had maybe heard of him once or twice. With __Y_ in place, one could be excused for thinking of Enya...

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