Today's theme revealer is DOTDOTDOT (Indication of more to come ... or what 17-, 28-, and 43-Across all contain) seems accurate as far as the clue/answer pair at 55A goes, but the three theme answers (WEBDUBOIS, JRRTOLKIEN, FAOSCHWARZ) don't actually contain any dots at all. Some might argue that I am being too literal, but I thought it was a little LOOPY. Unless, maybe the more to come is the dots in the names... :)
We get some zippy fill in the grid. I liked ERSATZ, SUEDE, TEEM, WEIRDO, EMBOSS, RAINOUT, and REDCOAT.
While I had little trouble with the puzzle as a whole, I did get held up at 58A: Novelist Seton/56D: Actor Sheridan of "Ready Player One" cross. I remembered the author as ANnA Seton - incorrectly. If I hadn't already entered ANNA up at 15A (Actress Kendrick or Paquin), I certainly would have FWOED. Some might argue that the non-nameness of TnE might have tipped me off to my error, but ever since I encountered HODAKOTB in a puzzle, I've given up judging what might and might not be a name. Not that there's anything wrong with Hoda Kotb as a name, but having never heard of her, I was unable to guess that combination of letters as a name ("Today" co-host beginning in 2007). In this case, I ran the alphabet, and eventually got to Y making ANYA, which was a strong enough possibility to carry the unknown-to-me TYE with it.
As with ANNA and ANYA in the same puzzle, I was a little surprised by ENE and ENO, and the very similar DAUB and DABS answers, the latter of which crossed at the D. The word JIBE doesn't ENLACE with my favorable sensibilities, but tho I shake my tiny FIST when I hear it, the word ENDORs.
~Frannie.
10:48
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't a shining theme, but it was OK. I've read works by the first two themers, and I've been to the location of the third, so they're all known to me just fine. NEONOIR and JAZZHOP are new to me, and it took me a couple of crosses, surprisingly, for EFFECTS (36D "Special" things in sci-fi films), but really there weren't many slowdowns for me. I guess I wanted "Looies" where BOBBIES goes, but it just wouldn't fit no matter how I tried to spell it.
Boy, I made a hash of this one. I did finish with two ANNAs, and I had other problems that I no longer recall.
ReplyDeleteI did like clue for PAINTERS (Professionals who put on coats for work), but yeah, the theme was kind of meh.