My first entry was RECIDIVISM (19A: Concern of "three strikes" laws), which made me happy, and then I dropped in LOVEBOAT (2D: Old TV show set on the Pacific Princess, with "The") (An absolute gimme for people my age, and a welcome sight on a Saturday!). With those two in place I was able to make short work of the NW, groaning away at EPICISTS and RETILES, and scratching my head at GOPER. If I see Mr. Walden tomorrow, I might ask him what GOPER (15A: Mr. or Mrs. Right?) means ... no, nevermind, I just cheated and looked at xwordinfo to find out what Jeff Chen said, and it's to be parsed as "GOP'er." Mr. or Mrs. Right-wing. Wow.
Some excellent cluing today with 54A: Achieved green efficiency? (ONEPUTTED) (Even with the question mark, I was thinking of eco-related things), 33A: Has a fit, maybe (TRIESON) (Cute.), 6A: No bull market? (CHINASHOP) (Heh.), and 32D: And many times in France? (ETS) (Wow. Tried real hard for that one!). And there's a very good hidden capital in 12D: Mobile greeting (HIYALL), although maybe they meant "a greeting that might be heard in a mobile home?" Heh.. no, probably not.
ADHERES (30A: Cleaves), SLEDGES (11D: Haulers on runners), NOOSES (44A: Ones hanging around a haunted house?) - all interesting and slightly unusual. And the two colloquialisms running through the middle are also strong. I've never heard of CLEVERDICK (6D: Know-it-all, in Britspeak), but it certainly sounds British, doesn't it? (And yes, now that you mention it, I am sounding a little like a CLEVERDICK myself, aren't I!)
Overall, a nice challenge, and hopefully good preparation for today's tournament! The entire Horace and Frances and Colum team are down here this year. Let's hope we, and the rest of the competitors, keep the MOTTLERS to a minimum, because there are no DOOVERs!
Peace out.
- Horace
DNF in 45:45
ReplyDeleteI had to give up in the SW with the tricky ONEPUTTED crossing LESSEPS, ALTE and ANGLOS. Between those crosses I ended up with three errors, with is over my limit of two to claim a finish with errors. Good Saturday offering nonetheless, and like Horace says, anything goes on a Saturday.