Today we celebrate celebrities whose first and last names are both first names, and Ms. Gelfand has found four examples where those names are also the first names of other celebrities in the same fields (acting, comedy, singing, and basketball). The comedy set is strong (who doesn't like Carell and Short?), but I'd argue that all three, including the justifiably famous STEVEMARTIN are better known for their acting work than their comedy at this point. Steve Carell, in particular, has been taking on a number of serious roles, I notice.
And so many men! Ms. Swift is doing her representing all by her lonesome. Add to that Mario PUZO, Mr. HYDE, BLOKE and ANTLERS, and there's quite a testosterone laden feeling to the puzzle. Still, Elaine BENES is present, and the nicely inverted clue at 7D: Object of an ogler (HUNK) removes us from the omnipresent male gaze.
I don't have a lot to HAGGLE over here. There aren't any true dazzlers in the fill, but also very little glue. It's a clean puzzle. Having just seen BlacKkKlansman last night, I found ARYAN tough to swallow, even in its original meaning as stated in the clue.
It's fine, as the kids say.
- Colum
The one which I was struggling with was LUNK. I wanted it to be lunkhead (which of course doesn't fit) and the dictionaries (those which have any of this) indeed say lunk is short for lunkhead.
ReplyDeleteHard to argue about the maleness, with BLOKE being another example.
4:15
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was fine. I was somewhat amused to see that the byline for the puzzle following this was "Brian Thomas." Heh.
Does "'Erase' on a computer" seem slightly off for UNDO? It does to me. Delete is more like Erase. UNDO is more like "undo."
I enjoyed the money-related trio of BILKED, HAGGLE, and ANNUITY.