0:05:53 (FWOE)
I don’t know about your lot, but Frannie and me, we’re out
most Mondays. We usually stick with something basic, though, like bourbon or
beer. These here fancy drinks are for later on in the week.
The SIDECAR,
famously (in my circle anyway) mentioned in the movie Auntie Mame (“… bring me a very light breakfast: black coffee and a
sidecar.”), and the more standard breakfast cocktail, the MIMOSA, followed by two classic gin concoctions, the GIMLET and the MARTINI (Mmmmm…. ) All four drinks are given a non-alcoholic clue,
and all are positioned over the letters “ME,” making true the revealer, THEDRINKSAREONME. Not a bad way to
start the week.
In the non-thematic answers, I enjoyed TIDEOVER (3D: Sustain temporarily), OUTSET (11D: Beginning), and WREAKS
(12D: Unleases, as havoc) (“as havoc…” is anything else ever “wreaked?”). I
also love SALMON, smoked or
otherwise, and it’s too bad that SILL wasn’t
clued as pickled herring, then we could have had a real Nordic thing going on.
Mmmmm… SILL…
Additionally, we have the almost contradictory LOOKALIVE and EPITAPH. Mr. Cee is surely no AMATEUR.
Yesterday I “learned” two words, today there’s another one
I’m not familiar with – FLACKS (41A:
Press agents, informally). Who knew? Aside from the fine folks at UPI, that is… which is where I had my
error today. I guess I confused my news giants and thought of AP, even though
I’ve never heard of a mud and thatch HaT. Sigh.
Overall, a fine puzzle to have at the OUTSET of the week.
- Horace
3:54
ReplyDeleteA fine example of crossword fun. I think we should all have a MARTINI ONMERIT, don't you?
6:11
ReplyDeleteHello. I'm back now from yet another trip. I just learned in a recent puzzle of UPI, so it posed no problem here, thankfully. Excellent theme in my opinion, also, even though I'd generally, of the four drinks, not have a SIDECAR. The "ME" placements are OK, but I'd rather have more symmetry (see SIDECAR and MARTINI, which seem out of balance). Before you write in, I realize that there's no way to center anything on those words. While I wouldn't give the puzzle a RAVE review, any alcoholic-beverage-themed puzzle gets a thumbs up from this GEEK.