ITSSAD, but the northwest was so packed with Frannie-unfriendly factoids (FUFs) that I couldn't complete the corner. For good or ill, I've never taken an interest in wrestling, lapso post cargo, I've never heard of SMACKDOWN. It's true that once Horace told me the answer, I thought I could maybe have figured it out IF I had come up with KLEE (Bauhaus figure). It didn't help that my years in the circus offered more experience with whipped cream pies than TAMALEPIE. AMITOBLAME if I was more focused on perming my clown afro and learning to ride a unicycle in the 1980s than on the skiing exploits of Mr. MAHRE? Maybe the mismatch between my background and the knowledge needed for many puzzles can be chalked up to the vas deferens between men and women.
On the upside, I was FWOEless in the rest of the puzzle. I jumped right in with WHALE at 10A. I don't know the constellation, but I do know what Cetus means. I liked ONALARK for "Just for the fun of it," and in that same vein, both Ricochet and CAROM are nice words (44A). Also, I'm a big fan of the modern slang word TOTES. I thought it would be funny to have a canvas bag company called Totes Adorbs. I'm sure someone has beat me to it.
There's some nice Category 2 Huygens material in here including the aforementioned constellation, ORBIT and CACAOTREE. There's also a bit of Category 1 material at 4D with Heine (CAN). Ha.
I thought the clue at 42A, "Game you never want to get your fill of?" (TETRIS) was clever, but I was not a big fan of STANDEE (One up?). I wondered why WEMADEIT was a cry at the end of a *family* trip, and not just any trip. There must be something I'm not getting. Maybe family is the SECRETWORD.
~Frannie.
15:27
ReplyDeleteOMG Frannie, you are insane. This review was hilarious.
I received a bottle that came from OPORTO for Christmas, luckily, and I remembered the skiing brothers from the '80s, so the NW eventually fell. YEOW!
I thought it was odd that "'Dancers at the Bar' painter" and "Activity next to a bar" were in the same grid. I mean, sure, it's a pairing, but it seemed too close, somehow. And "Little sandwiches for dessert" is a new clue for OREOS to me, but how often are OREOS served for dessert? Well, who knows? Maybe frequently... Me, I go for some other matière GRAS. Or, better yet, a liquid from OPORTO.
13:44
ReplyDeleteDefinitely needed help from Hope for that NW corner. TAMALEPIE came to her immediately. I don't know what sort of experiences she's been hiding from me, but apparently they involve corn bread. Took me way too long to get RHINEGOLD, although I don't entirely blame myself, because it's just completely wrong. It's "Das Rheingold". None of this English nonsense. Meanwhile, I was stuck on "Die Walküre"...
I agree that DEGAS and BALLET are clued too closely to each other. Usually when you get two clues with the same word in it, they're referring to two different things. (C.f. SENS and ANTS from another puzzle this week.) Not here. And, BTW, it's "barre," not "bar."
Anyway, excellent blog post, Frannie. Sorry for my sour grapes.
And here I was planning on starting the New Year trying to see the positives in the crossword!
Delete38:18
ReplyDeleteThis was a tough Friday for old Huygens over here. Luckily I entered RHINEGOLD even though, as Colum mentions, it's "Das," not "The." However, like Frannie, I've yet to experience the cycle. I mean, at this stage of my life, I like what I like and I don't want to work too hard to watch entertainment. Lots of notes in there. TAMALEPIE is unknown to me, but SMACKDOWN was somewhere there in the dark recesses. I got through the NW all right after a fashion, but the SW, with ROTOS crossing NGAIO was a little obscure for my taste. Hilarious review by Frannie.
38:18
ReplyDeleteThis was a tough Friday for old Huygens over here. Luckily I entered RHINEGOLD even though, as Colum mentions, it's "Das," not "The." However, like Frannie, I've yet to experience the cycle. I mean, at this stage of my life, I like what I like and I don't want to work too hard to watch entertainment. Lots of notes in there. TAMALEPIE is unknown to me, but SMACKDOWN was somewhere there in the dark recesses. I got through the NW all right after a fashion, but the SW, with ROTOS crossing NGAIO was a little obscure for my taste. Hilarious review by Frannie!
14:47 FWOE
ReplyDeleteI agree with Horace - the "Little sandwiches for dessert" section gave me the most trouble, as it took me forever to come up with OREOS for that.
My error was in the SW. I had BOOB for 52D "Yahoo", and have never heard of a newspaper section called ROTOS. And probably never will.
And sign me up for one of those Totes Adorbs bags.