I recognize that they're probably including a few puzzles with soccer references because the World Cup is going on, I just wish I had paid more attention to 10D: Argentine soccer star, informally (LEOMESSI) before I finished filling in the grid. See, I had guessed THEzOnE for 21A: Former reality TV show first hosted by Anderson Cooper (THEMOLE), and then never went back to verify the soccer star or 12D: Be hot, which, as it turns out, was not BOIn. Sigh... but the rest of this went pretty quickly for a Saturday, I thought.
The verticals in the NW were great - ABCISLANDS (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao), ZEROTOHERO, EGOBOOSTER - even if they did have to be anchored by a car name at 1A. And as much as I enjoy the convenience of Netflix, I still don't love seeing a big advertisement right through the middle. IOBJECT!
I was temporarily fooled by 10A: Letters before Q (LGBT), where I cringed and entered "mnop" at first (I should have known better!), and at 40A: 9-Down (SUSHI) selection (AHI), I tried "eel," but that didn't last long.
Funny to see ONFLEEK (48A: Flawlessly styled, in modern slang) on top of VIAVENETO (53A: Major thoroughfare in Rome).
Fun clues today included:
56A: Real lifesavers (ANTIDOTES) - excellent
26A: Hero of New Orleans (POBOY) - Got me!
44A: Embiggen (ENLARGE) - It's perfectly cromulent.
and
57A: Tub-thump (ORATE) - "Tub-thump." Hah!
Oh what the heck, here's a nice LEOMESSI goal in GIF format. Enjoy!
- Horace
25:20
ReplyDeleteYes, this went pretty quickly for a Saturday, especially after working outside (yard projects) and inside (plumbing projects) all day long. I never heard of THEMOLE, LEOMESSI or ONFLEEK, but since I had BOIL crossing THEMOLE and all of the other crosses save the "F" in ONFLEEK, I was able to guess both correctly, since sATE didn't fit the down clue, but luckily FATE did. It was still my final entry, and the "Congratulations" pencil surprised me. I had a bit of trouble parsing WINANOSCAR correctly for some reason, but I was pretty confident with all of the crosses. NETFLIXORIGINAL doesn't bother me too much.
9:48
ReplyDeleteA fine Saturday puzzle. Good thing you didn't put señor Messi's anti-highlight in from today (missing a penalty shot that would have won the match for them). My first entry was BENTOBOX, confirmed by BASS. I love EXCUSEYOU.