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.
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.
14:29
ReplyDeleteThis 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.
16:00
ReplyDeleteFlew 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!
29:09
ReplyDeleteThere 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.