Did you pass this test with FLYING / COLORS?
I love this theme. Four outstanding examples of things that fly with colors in their names, four different colors, and a great revealer. I love that GOLDENSNITCH and GREENLANTERN have the same number of letters in their names. What a great find. The only downside is that putting in six theme answers (the revealer being split into two entries) forced the constructors into a severe segmentation of the grid into essentially two barely connected halves. But that's fine for a Tuesday, I think.
I'm getting soft in my old age.
We've certainly been known to take a NONDAIRY in this household, although a lovely aged gouda is always welcome. Almost as good as CATNIP to a Tabby, you might say. I also enjoyed the word SCUFFS, although I prefer it as a verb to a plural noun.
I feel certain that certain readers might have preferred a different clue at 9D: Military raider (COMMANDO). But really, who wants to think about that sort of thing? Especially if it's in the MENS department.
Too soon?
 |
| Curse you, REDBARON! |
OKSURE.
In the same line of misreading, I find that I've misread the clue for 59D: Family title with two pronunciations (AUNT). I thought it said contractions, which is really weird. And so I went down a Google rabbit hole looking for how there might be contractions in the word "aunt".
Aun't?
Anyway, it turns out it comes from the Latin "amita," meaning "father's sister." And there you have it.
- Colum
Oh, I have a nerdy speed bump to report. I had CYTo for a while, because I had misread "suffix" as "prefix" and so my brain was on things like cytoplasm instead of CYTE and things like leucocyte. Eventually did correct it when it started to become clear that the cross was going to have a color (because I had the revealer by then) and it must be green.
ReplyDeleteAs for whether I passed with FLYING COLORS, pretty much by my standards (10:36), which is probably why I was not noticing (and cursing) the segmented grid.
4:56
ReplyDeleteI, too, saw "prefix" and had CYTo for a while, but luckily, the GREENLANTERN wasn't Dutch, and things worked out in the end. And I'm also with Mr. Kingdon on not even noticing the segmentation, but I guess I see what you mean now.
I needed a lot of crosses for UMPIRE (Diamond judge), and "Swain" was a nice clue for BEAU. And can't SCUFFS also be slipper-type things? Again, a plural noun, though, so that's not helping. And Last but not least, I liked "@@@" for the somewhat terrible ATS, for much the same reason that III amused me yesterday. :P
7:00
ReplyDeleteNot as FLYING as some, but reasonable and typical speed for a Tuesday. Anything with REDBARON in it gets a thumbs up from me. I'd have preferred a GD reference for ALTHEA. Great catch on COMMANDO/MENS Colum! My mind should definitely have been there. Everyone loves a nice SAKE.