Boy, this was a fun one! And one where the revealer truly
did reveal the trick to me. Before getting to it, I had entered the names as
rebuses, and even though I saw that they were kind of copied in the Down
answers and I sensed that something wasn’t quite right, I wasn’t sure what to
do until it was spelled out to me with LASTONESTANDING.
Excellent.
There was a bit of an older vibe with the theme answers, and it carried over into the fill in 6D: Arts-and-crafts kit trendy in the 1970s-‘80s (SHRINKYDINKS). We never got any, but I sure remember the ads for them that would run during the Saturday morning cartoons!
Happily, this crossword provided several audible AHAS for this solver. Well, chortles
anyway. How about 89D: One who cries “Uncle!”? (AUNT), or 63D: Nursing facility? (MAMMARYGLAND)? Shocking! And what about 27A: ____-backwards (ASS)?!
The long Down material contains TONS of great material. SMALLWORLD
(37D: “Huh, you know him, too?!”), TAKETOTHEHILLS
(50D: Flee), TIDINGS (42D:
News), BROCADE (14D: Upholsterer’s
fabric), the full ANNODOMINI, and
even POPULAROPINION (13D: In view?).
There were lots of names I didn’t know, and most were
crossed fairly, but where two crossed each other, I ended up with a mistake. I
know the song “Little Latin LUPE Lu”
through Jonathan Richman, who mentions the title in another song, but I had
never seen it written down, and I didn’t know the “Ernest who wrote ‘Ready
Player One,’” so my guess of LUPI went uncorrected until after the buzzer had
sounded. DRAT! Still, I really enjoyed this one. That makes two Sundays in
a row I’ve liked. It might be a record!
I understand Frannie has brokered another week-swap, so Colum will be taking the reins for the next seven days. And 'though we don't say it enough, we always mean it - Thanks for reading, and Happy puzzling!
- Horace
Hey what a great Sunday! I think it's because there are only 5 theme answers, which opens things up for a ton of excellent fill. I tried the rebus first, then switched to the answers making a left-hand turn going up (having been fooled by POP, which could go either direction), then figured it out finally.
ReplyDeleteI will quibble with AUNT. What Aunt do you have who cries "Uncle!"? A niece or a nephew might do that, it seems to me.
34:25 (FWOE)
ReplyDeleteLike Horace, I erred at a crossing with this CLINE person, but it was the crossing of Google's BRIN, a name I've never heard (I spelled it like the college). And like both Horace and Colum, I tried the rebus at SNAPCRACKLEAND[poP], but changed it with the down. I figured out the theme with KUKLAFRANAND/ROLLIE (Ollie), which I knew, but also knew didn't fit with a rebus of any kind. I read the excellent ASS-backwards to Sue, who seemed to enjoy it. LIAISE is nice to see, as were all of the words with a "y" as vowel. And this was right where I like a puzzle regarding solve time, so thumbs up from the YBH.