Saturday, February 17, 2018

Saturday, February 17, 2018, Peter Wentz

35:22

I took advantage of some QUIETTIME this morning to get an early start on the puzzle. I started strong in the northwest, being familiar with Axe BODYSPRAY (sadly), and (more happily) "Misses overseas" (SENORITAS). Both those entries were crossed by fan-favorite YEOMAN (Title figure in a Gilbert and Sullivan opera) and I was ONAJAG.

In the northeast, HADAFEW (Threw some back) and ANTSONALOG (Celery sticks topped with peanut butter and raisins) went right in, tho' CRIPES and STATICLINE took a bit longer to make their PRESENCE known.

I had some trouble with the lower west side, but when I got finally got it done, I thought the downs were strong. I enjoyed ACCOST (Come right up to), the excellently clued SHOPAHOLIC (One who always has time to spend? - ha!), and IAMAMERICA (and so can you!). Another trouble spot for me in that area was SAMADAMS. It's a difficult word to parse, both when complete and incomplete: SA MA DA MS. Weird.
LABCOAT
I didn't know LIT was slang for a happening party, but I like it! It reminds me of fan favorite, Auntie Mame.

Other clues with good OPTICS were:
30A. It's generally up and running within a few hours (FOAL)
23D. Quick move? (RELO)
30D. Professional feeders (FARMTEAMS)
46D. Like some very important signs (VITAL)
49D. Carny's target (RUBE). So  many rubes...

I'm not going into a MOUE about it, but why does 4D. Almost nothing on? (GSTRINGS) have a question mark at the end. And, are POLOS really "Tops in athletics"? What type of sports are they worn in? And don't say polo. :)

~Frannie.

3 comments:

  1. 14:29
    This was a ton of fun. I had such a "kitwo" moment with SAMADAMS. In part it was because I had SAMADA__ and when I finally finished it, I was stuck on thinking of some tropical drink. Loved the clue for FOAL. But my proudest moment was putting ERICAJONG in off of the clue. Did I know the quotation? No, but it fit so well.

    And of course, YEOMAN. My favorite G&S.

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  2. 16:00
    Flew through the top, then got slowed down a bit in the lower half - especially around the ERICAJONG quote! One bright spot down there, however, was EMS (Middle of summer?) which didn't fool me for a second!

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  3. 29:09
    There was no indication in the clue of a shortening of the proper name of the beer Samuel Adams to SAMADAMS, but other than that this was fine. ASIANS over CHANG is a nice touch, I think. I tried deodorant where BODYSPRAY goes, which slowed me down a bit up there in the NW. Odd that I finished this faster than the Friday this week.

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