Friday, August 3, 2018, David Steinberg

28:44

A relatlively fast Friday for this solver. There wasn't a lot of flow, but I was luckily able to break into each section with at least something. The toughest for me was the mid west. I have heard of WEEZER, but for some reason the band didn't jump to mind. On the other hand, I've never heard of EDSHEERAN, but thanks to the downs, he didn't give me any trouble.

I liked MAKESNOISE (complains vocally) in the north east. STRIPMALLS was fine, as fill, and I see how it goes with the clue, but are "Commercial lines?" a thing? Maybe that's another area for me to study up on. My favorite in the south west was BREAKADATE (Cancel on someone). NEATH that I had CORKingFEE at first. Had I been familiar with Sir KAY of the Round Table I might have gotten to CORKAGEFEE sooner. It also took me too long to get STARTREKVI (1991 scifi sequel). Was that one of the good ones? Despite the fact that I consider myself a fan of the Original Series, I can only reliably associate plot with sequence number for I, III, and IV.

Some clue/answers of note:
Monet that isn't worth much money, say (REPLICA) - I liked this clue, but did think it would have been stronger with out the "money" part, even though it has the Monet/money sound thing going for it.
Sauce with the same consonants as what it's used on (PESTO) - Neat.
French vanilla ice cream ingredient (LAIT) - nice misdirection.
Stir crazy? for PRISONRIOT - Ha!
Four-finger gestures (AIRQUOTES) - I don't take an air quote myself, but I enjoyed this one anyway. As and aside, I am in the ANTI camp where DOGEARS (Turns a corner) are concerned.
POOCH is a funny word. 

I thought there was ATAD too much crosswordese for a Friday, even if it was introduced with more clever or twistier clues (ANTE, IMAC, RUE, ETS, IRA, PPS, ALOE, etc.). I guess that ENDSIT.

~Frannie.