I thought this one played pretty easy for a Friday, as you can tell from my time. Perhaps IMALONE in this, but I doubt it. When I got to 23A (They're seen going south in the fall) I didn't enter GEESE right away because I thought it was too obvious and I must be missing something, but I wasn't. A number of other clues also seemed like gimmies, such as 65A What a laryngitis sufferer may do (WHISPER), 39D Like milk you shouldn't cry over (SPILT), 6D Big no-no at a T.S.A. checkpoint (KNIFE), and 33D Awesome (GREAT). I thought that adding (in two senses) to Person in a trailer at 28A (ACTOR) added some fun, but it practically gave the answer away.
Another possible reason for the relatively easy solve is that there while there is a lot of not what we normally call crosswordese in the grid, there is a bit of familiar fill like EULER, TENOR, OREIDA, and SINEW.
Enough with the LOWS. My favorite of the six long answers was WENTBERSERK. It was a nice twist to have Egyptian charm turn out to be SCARAB - a thing not normally associated with charm. In this vein, we find the very nice 48A Opposite of downs (SIPS). Other fine clues were Port vessel (CASK), Not standing, in a way (ADHOC), 43A Things worth waiting for (TIPS) - ha! I also liked both Blather and HOTAIR (47D), although I really don't.
8:02
ReplyDeleteI also found this one to be pretty breezy - just a few seconds off of my record Friday time.
16:21
ReplyDeleteI, too, found this easy for a Friday. My favorite was mentioned by Frannie: 48A Opposite of downs (SIPS). Second was probably 45A A screwdriver might be added to it (BARTAB). I never heard of a TORTONI, but I'm a fan of both ice cream (last night I enjoyed some honey and thyme ice cream) and treats, so I'll look for it. WENTBERSERK was my favorite long down, too.