"IF I WERE YOU ..."
First of all, I love this kind of title. One that tells you just what's going to happen in the puzzle, but you usually don't understand it at first. This time, "If I Were You ..." should be read as "If 'I' were 'U,'" because all the theme answers make that switch. As in, 62A: Like a trip overland from Venezuela to Bolivia? (JUNGLEALLTHEWAY). Hah! I like that one a lot. PASSWORDHUNT, I like less, but maybe that's a thing, I don't know.
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| A butter with no rival. |
I caught on to the theme right away with BUTTERRIVALS (23A: Land O'Lakes and Breakstone's?), and after that, the whole puzzle went right along.
I liked much in the fill, including the rather imposing DIMINUTIVE (69D: Tiny) in the lower left, and on the other side, BAITSHOP and ROUNDHOUSE side-by-side were good. It's somewhat amusing that ALITALIA crosses AGLIOEOLIO, and I enjoyed the two "Box of 12" clues (6D, JURY and 77D, DOZEN), but I'm not sure why the latter required the "say" in the clue.
One thing about crossword puzzle reviews, they can never be RETREADS, can they? I mean, the subject matter is new every day, so our reviews have to be new, too. We try to avoid becoming overly AGITATED, or sounding like a PEDANT. Occasionally, our EYER SEES something to ASSAIL, but AFTERWARDS we work the other SIDE, but we don't GUSH unless a puzzle can really EARNIT.
OK, enough of that. I liked this theme just fine. It was a nice diversion, and now I have to pack up and leave this UTOPIA, this other EDEN to go back to the big building with a lot of BOOKS that I work in.
- Horace
This was a fine Sunday puzzle, very much on the easy side. I do like the theme, although part of me wonders whether to complain that there were Is in the theme answers that didn't switch to U. But that makes me sound like a PEDANT for sure.
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