There must be other famous men whose last or first names are names of islands... let's see. How about Howie Long? Would Saint Martin be unfair (since it's his whole name)? Or what about Method Man, from the Wu Tang Clan! If you have other good ideas, please comment below.
Mind you, the three that Mr. Gordon came up with are a lot of fun. My favorite is CUBAGOODINGJR, because of the completeness of having his Junior in there. How about the fact that two of the three are black? And I love the revealer: NOMANISANISLAND. It's so absurd, looking over the puzzle.
The puzzle is in left-right symmetry to accommodate the lengths of the long answers. The other notable thing is the remarkable number of proper nouns (people or places) in the puzzle. I count 22 (including the three theme answers)! Of these, my favorite by far is GDANSK, which I have been known to use in the place of a curse.
There are several excellent answers in the fill. Regardless of what you may think of Cats, GRIZABELLA is a beautiful long entry. And BRAZILIANS could have been clued in quite a different way. Finally, I really liked 5D: They're likely to get into hot water (TEABAGS). It is certainly true that they could go in iced water as well, so the "likely" is well earned.
I'm unsure about 48D: She might check for a fever with her hand (DRMOM). What's the DR doing there? Isn't the answer simply "Mom"? I have never in my life called my mother or my wife "Dr. Mom."
On the whole, I'm in favor of this Tuesday offering.
- Colum
10:16
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea for GDANSK! And I agree that BRAZILIANS could have had a bluer clue, of course, as could TEABAGS (too much?). But DRMOM is a common term, at least in these parts. I love the puzzle theme, and the lack of junk for answers (HRE, CCV). TOECLIP seems like it should be gross, but no, and I even enjoyed the full, but abbreviated, HDTVSET. NONCE is excellent, and shout out to LIT and SANGRIA.
6:05
ReplyDeleteI think Frannie may have started that GDANSK mild oath usage around the same time she started using "cert" in place of "jerk." Ahh language, so meaningless. :)
I liked seeing SIDLEUP, and I agree about NONCE. TOECLIPs have been rare on true racing bikes for many decades, but they are remembered in their replacement's generic name - "clipless pedals." Which is odd, because neither the new system nor the old really looks all that much like a clip...