There were some uncomfortable minutes after finishing the puzzle when I stared at the theme answers and tried to figure out "what to heck" was going on (as the young 'uns like to say). And then it hit me. HIGHDEFINITION is clued as "the definition of the word 'high'." OVEREXPLAINED is clued as "an explanation of the word 'over'." And clearly, MEANINGOFLIFE is clued by the Monty Python film.
No?
Darn.
I guess I felt that LEXICOGRAPHERS was a little bit of a letdown for a revealer answer, even though it's an outstanding word to have in the grid. For one thing, it's 14 letters long, and if I've learned anything from Jeff Chen's commentary, it's that 14-letter answers are tough in a 15 x 15 grid. It's also got that wonderful X (which allows all of us to glory in recalling XENA, as well). Still, it's not as sparkling a revealer as one might hope for.
Some excellent fill though. I particularly liked 10D: Makes the rounds? (BARTENDS). That's high quality. Some people enjoy SNOCAPS at a movie. Me, I go for M&Ms, but chacun à son goût, as they say in certain parts. EDNAFERBER wrote "Cimarron"? Go figure. I knew she wrote "Giant," which was made into a movie with James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, and Rock Hudson.
It seemed there were enough proper names to fill an ARENA while I was solving. But it takes the guts of Mr. Shortz's right-hand man to use XVI as a partial.
- Colum
12:29
ReplyDeleteI liked the look of the puzzle and enjoyed the theme. PLATINUM was an unexpected answer at 35D Credit card designation (for me, anyway), and I also enjoyed GINUP, TROMP and the fact that I could enter CAMUS off of the ___U_. I did not love the two movie partials: LALA and ABOY, but I wouldn't SNUB the whole puzzle because of them.
12:29
ReplyDeleteI liked the look of the puzzle and enjoyed the theme. PLATINUM was an unexpected answer at 35D Credit card designation (for me, anyway), and I also enjoyed GINUP, TROMP and the fact that I could enter CAMUS off of the ___U_. I did not love the two movie partials: LALA and ABOY, but I wouldn't SNUB the whole puzzle because of them.
Fine clue for SUMO, I'd add. I also thought of NINTH as a bit of a late President's day bonus.
ReplyDelete7:38
ReplyDeleteCAMUS was a cool cat, wasn't he? And me, I go for popcorn. Lots and lots of it.
Weird clue for SNUB (Crowd favorite not getting nominated for an Oscar, e.g.). And I did not at all like "Apply carelessly, as paint" for DAUB. And finally, "Confucian path" is inaccurate for TAO. Confucius started Confucianism, which is not Taoism.
"But aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the puzzle?"