(I accidentally left the uncompleted puzzle open and unattended for an unknown amount of time)
We have a solid theme today with the end of each of the four theme answers adding a dimension as we go from top to bottom, starting with a zero dimensional POINT to multi-dimensional SPACE. One of my favorites was PICKUPLINE (Cheesy fare served at a bar?) Ha! I also enjoyed THATSNOTTHEPOINT. We've all been there.
I was stuck briefly on 37D (Certain network ID). When it's my month to write the reviews I try to improve my solve times early in the week to impress our esteemed readers, so I was rushing. I had IPAD_RESS, but I kept thinking, there's no such thing as an iPad Dress is there? No, there isn't. Unless an iPad cover made of fabric could be called a dress. Can it? No, it can't.
As I looked over the puzzle again just now I saw a bunch of other fill that could be given ANOTHERDIMENSION. For example, if you were thanking someone who complimented you, but you weren't quite sure of his name, you could say, "Aw, Ed ... or Al, ... OK, Ra." Or, if a friend sent you a picture of his new shirt, you could text back, "that is so u." Or, if your black dress shoes got scuffed you could re noir them. And, if you went to yesterday's specialty bakery with a friend, when you got to the counter, you could say, "Pi Us." Or, if you have a party and it runs late and guests won't leave, and you're thinking to yourself INEEDSPACE, you yen tas. Am I right? I'm guessing most of you are thinking she needs a sh.
There was a bunch of other fill that didn't point me to another dimension, but that I liked including SPASMS, JETSKI, WINDPOWER , and PAPALBULL. Also nice to see Mr. KERN and NED get shout outs.
Lots of short stuff, but not much SPEW. OLE.
~Frannie.
14:01
ReplyDeleteI suppose "higher dimension" would be an even nicer revealer, but ANOTHERDIMENSION works fine.
Been a long time since I've thought about a LECAR, so that was pleasant (if I hadn't heard of that model, it would have been "huh?" so I guess the difference between a great answer and a poor one sometimes is whether you know it).
Nice clue for EWE. Oh, and took me some crosses to get PAPALBULL, partly because I was stuck on "motu proprio" (which I realize is not the right number of letters, and is sort of a case of too much knowledge not really helping anyway).
12:24
ReplyDeleteNice review, Frannie. As somewhat of a geometry buff (and quantum physics, for that matter), I'm a fan of some dimension play. PICKUPLINE was certainly the best of the theme answers. Nice to see AKRONOHIO in there in its entirety. My only slowdown came at 5D, where I'd entered WINDfarms at first before getting OONA and AWED, which changed it to WINDPOWER. I liked that PAPALBULL crosses PIUS.
6:22
ReplyDeleteAmusing review, Ms. Page. I suppose at 3-4, one could argue that the JETS KI is out of whack. (Hey, I've never really liked that spelling variant, but a valid Scrabble word is a valid review comment word, am I right?)
I really enjoyed this one, and I was right with you, Mr. Kingdon, smiling at LECAR. It was a good twenty years ahead of its time. Well... in America, anyway.
5:47
ReplyDeleteDid you notice it's 16x15? Thus the longer times for a Tuesday. I loved the theme, with seriously strong themers.