What a lovely way to start a week of blogging: a near perfect Monday puzzle. The revealer in the middle is 38A: Lead off ... or a hint to the circled letters (GOFIRST). In fact, in the long across answers, the initial portion of each is a synonym for "go". What's nice is that each synonym is hidden in the initial syllable(s), with the best being "leave" in LEAVENEDBREAD, as the sound of the vowels is changed by the extraction.
I'm not a fan of circled letters, and I really don't think it was necessary to do it in this particular example. And having the revealer in the middle meant that the gig was up relatively early. I'd actually already cottoned on by filling in the first two themers ... and here's why I don't like the circles. Without them, I'd have been unsure what the theme was going to be.
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But these are just nits I'm picking. There's plenty to like. Even if I'm not a fan of STROM Thurmond, the placement of his name next to THROB was a fascinating juxtaposition. INSIDIOUS is a great word. I also really liked YOUNG and THING next to each other clued with Michael Jackson's song.
I have little to complain about. I love Laura LINNEY and LISA Kudrow. And my memories of seeing David in the NUDE in Firenze are highly treasured.
Nice start!
- Colum
This was a nice puzzle, even if a bit heavy in places on unfair celebrity clues (where "unfair" of course means "celebrities i don't know").
ReplyDeleteWas having trouble with CATT because I was confusing her with Lucretia Mott. I guess a case of having a little knowledge but not quite enough.
Favorite answer? Probably WEARSTHIN.
Oh, and I doubt people will ever agree on circles, but I will say that the revealer reads more nicely as "circled letters" than as "the long answers" or by listing clue numbers.
That's a good mental workout.
ReplyDelete5:31
ReplyDeleteI'm with Colum on the circles today; sometimes they're necessary, but not today. I was unaware of the Steve MCQUEEN referenced, being familiar with the actor, but I did enjoy his movie, so it's nice to know. INSIDIOUS is great, as is ABALONE, which we don't see every day, and certainly rarely on a Monday. Nice start to the week.
4:04
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with the term SCATTERRUG, but I will just assume it's valid.
Interesting factoid about ASIA (Home to 48 countries).