Monday, July 16, 2018

Monday, July 16, 2018, Erik Agard

4:35

Monday rolls around and I have the pleasure of writing the blog even as my lower lip regains feeling after getting a filling replaced. That's always fun. #POOP. But what's actually fun (irony dropped) is doing the NYT crossword puzzle. So #SWAG.

Did you see COCO? I thought it was a very nice movie, but not at the level of, say, Inside Out, or Wall-E. Today's grid comes up with four two word phrases where each word begins with CO-. I am newly introduced today to COMECORRECT, which according to Wiktionary, first made its appearance in Vibe in 1999. That's a long time ago, for "modern parlance," but I'll assume it didn't make its way into the wider conversation for some years. I'll support the idea of approaching people with respect and truthfulness. God knows we need it in today's society. #AMEN.

I thought perhaps 27D: Amts. of blood (CCS) was going to be the revealer, but that would not have represented much of a challenge. #EGO.

Does 11D: Place to see the town while painting the town red? (ROOFTOPBAR) need a question mark? It seems pretty straightforward to me as a clue. There's no pun involved. C.f. 15A: What a fisherman might bring home even if he doesn't catch any fish (TALE). See? There's no question mark there, and none needed. Arguments welcome in the comments section, but only if you come correct. #SIR.

No major complaints today, though. III is a bit of a crutch, but I like SELFCARE and PILEITON. And that's about what I have for today. #IMOUT.

- Colum

3 comments:

  1. 4:59
    Nice hashtaggery.

    I liked this one. I even smiled at III. I tend to prefer blatancy over things like "Georgia's capital: Abbr." (ATL).

    Pretty clean puzzle today from the reigning champ. A solid start to the week.

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  2. I'll pick III over ATL and maybe even over ONO, EMO, or AGO.

    Moving on to four letter answers, I was quite fond of OXEN, not impressed by NEYO (which is just a fancy way of saying I haven't heard of said singer), but would have to pick TALE as the best of the lot.

    Five letter answers were solid but PERMA stands out above the rest. Just as being a nice concept (exotic enough to be out of the mundane, but familiar enough that most solvers should know about it).

    Six letters answers: no real question here, gotta go with GENOME.

    And I guess I better stop here, because "tiara" doesn't have seven letters (much to my disappointment).

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  3. 5:16
    C'mon, COMECORRECT isn't parlance in any of my circles. At least it wasn't clued as "common" parlance. That's the worst of the themers. The best is COMPLETECONTROL, which is exactly what I DON'T go for when I manage, preferring, instead, to trust my chief operators to manage their facilities and crews. Not much UNFAMILIAR to me in this one. I agree fully with Colum on ROOFTOPBAR; no question mark necessary, even on a Monday.

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