Monday, September 25, 2017, Bruce Haight

0:03:59

An amusing start to the week, with rhyming two-word phrases. I smiled at all of them, but had the hardest time coming up with HOTSY/TOTSY (sophisticated). I don't know what that says about me, and I'll thank you not to opine on the subject. :)

My favorite answer today is CYYOUNG (24A: Award named for the winningest pitcher of all time) because, obvious as it is, I had not read the clue until after entering the double Y, and I was already starting to re-think 2D: Book that might require a key to open (DIARY). "Hmm... I've seen locks on old bibles, I think, and what about... nope, never mind, the clue has the word "pitcher" in it. We're good."

Not much long stuff, but BULLMOOSE (8D: Symbol of Teddy Roosevelt's political party) and FOURSPEED (33D: Like most manual transmissions in the 1970s and '80s) were fine. I enjoyed DIURNAL (43A: Active during the daytime), which crossed the fun SCULPTS (50A: Produces a large body of work?). TWIRL (34D: Spin, as a baton) was fancy, and MARTYRS (26A: Ones sacrificing for a cause) has that nice string of letters at the end.

1A: Puff ____ (snake) (ADDER) - C+.
Favorite: 32A: She raised Cain (EVE) - Simple, but amusing
Least: hmmm... maybe ORD (20A: California's old Fort ____). It's just a little esoteric for a Monday. On the other hand, I think I may have played disc golf at that old Fort, so maybe I shouldn't give it such a hard time. :)

Oh well, me and my AMIE are on vacation this week, but as usual for us, we've got an agenda, and if I'm going to be one who ADHERES to his HONEYDO list, I should probably shut the ol' laptop and AMBLE over to the toolbox. I enjoyed this puzzle. Fun theme, with no need for a revealer. Good start to the week.

- Horace