Another day, another FWOE. Dammit! I somehow ended up having LANE for both 39A: Superman's love interest Lois ____) and 34A: Superboy's love interest ____ Lang (LANA). I know, it doesn't make any sense, and I don't know how it happened, but there it is.
So for today's theme we have four long answers that end with synonyms - BOMB, FLOP, TURKEY, and BUST. Whether the last answer, HOLLYWOODORBUST should be taken as something of a revealer, since all four words are often used for bad movies, I don't know. I did learn that it was the last movie that DEAN Martin and INANE Lewis did together, and that they could no longer ABIDE one another by then. They were, in fact, so IRATE that they did not speak to one another off set during the entire filming. Lewis has said that it is the only one of his films that he has never seen, because watching it would be too painful. Poor guy.
1A: Tokyo's land (JAPAN) gets a B.
Favorite: The weird duo of BROADWAY and ROAD.
Least: TBS (20A: Atlanta-based cable channel). It's just so meh.
Nice that ARLO and GUTHRIE made it in, and that the latter crossed ROASTTURKEY seemed appropriate. I always enjoy thinking of HELEN of Troy, but not so much a LASERGUIDEDBOMB.
It was a fine Monday.
- Horace
3:33
ReplyDeleteI like a puzzle without a revealer. The theme was clear enough. My favorite is 1D: Say "I don't" instead of "I do"? (JILT). Nice turnaround on the standard crosswordese.
Do we have a spirited mini theme here with AGED, ICED, SIP, HEAD, VATS, and, of course, PARTY? I like to think we do.
ReplyDelete7:12
ReplyDeleteI'm all for Frannie's mini-theme. I didn't know Sean ASTIN, but the crosses are fine, as they normally are on a Monday. FRIES should have been "prize," otherwise isn't it just any fast-food combo part? Well, who cares? I'll never get one regardless. I, too, like thinking of HELEN of Troy.
6:28 (fast for me).
ReplyDeleteFor a split second I read the "Thanksgiving entree" clue as "Thanksgiving attire". Which seems like it should be a clue for something, although I don't know what.
OWIE was also pretty good (a bit off the beaten path, despite the three vowels). I guess it wasn't considered official enough until roughly 2008 (based on browsing xwordinfo, that seems to be when it started showing up semi-regularly).