Frannie and I did this one side-by-side, like the old days, while shouting out clues to everyone else in the room, a tactic that gave mixed results. One of the youngsters was happy to confirm ELSA (24D: "Let It Go" singer, in film), but when we asked for the "Ill-fated NASA mission of 1967), and told people it was APOLLO_, with just the one space for a Roman numeral, they delighted in shouting out numbers that could not fit in one space, and then a couple Gemini missions... Fun!
The theme of PASSIVERESISTANCE (111A: Protest tactic ...) takes aim at one of the classic whipping boys of the grammar DWEEB set, and Mr. Stulberg has found an amusing pentad of phrases to change into the active voice. My favorite is THATDOESNOTAMUSEUS (36A: Remark commonly attributed to Queen Victoria) ("We are not amused"), which also reminds me of my late mother-in-law, and is especially appropriate on a weekend spent with three of her daughters and some of the extended family. But I digress.
There wasn't a whole lot of bonus long material today, but there were some quality sixes and sevens. CAJOLES (16D: Wheedles), GETSICK (47D: Catch something), and STEPMOM (11D: Carol Brady, to three of her kids), are all strong. I wish I had remembered ISTRIA (95D: Peninsula shared by Croatia and Slovenia). I tried to teach it to myself way back when, but I still needed many crosses today. GENOESE (85D: Like Columbus) is ok, but NONUPLE (86D: Word hitting two Triple Word Scores in Scrabble) got a few PROFANE comments. Likewise PITSAW (62A: Tool that it takes two to operate), but maybe that's just because none of us is familiar with the tool.
Personally, I enjoyed TINT (39D: Colorist's concern) because I recently put a streak of blue in my hair. And ALOHAS (40D: Hilo his) had a fun clue, as did SLICED (73D: Like some bologna and golf shots). And MOSEYS (94D: Goes at a leisurely pace) is solid.
Overall, the theme carries the day. Decent Sunday.
- Horace
I'll add one more porch-favorite to the list: Article of apparel never worn by Winnie-the-Pooh: PANTS. Ha!
~Frannie.
I am quite familiar (well by photo and probably talking to someone about it) with a two person saw, but that's without a pit. Looks like much the same device, just being used differently. To be honest I don't fully follow the whole pit thing, but I'm sure there is some advantage over just sawing horizontally.
ReplyDeleteMy two errors were ADOBa/MTaSSA and NOONEHAShATEDTHISFILM crossed with someone I didn't know. Which I would enjoy seeing in a trailer some day, but which is kind of improbable now that I think about it.