A smooth, fun Friday, if a little SPEEDY. Much of it fell on the first GOROUND for me, and what didn't fall just right didn't do much harm. I guessed bAnAnATREE, for "17A: Part of a Central American grove," but the As still worked, so it wasn't all bad. :) Oh, and that reminds me of a good clue - "15D: What a colon might denote" (EYES).
The corners are chunky, especially the NW and SE, which contain stacked tens crossed by triple-sevens. (Jackpot!) The crosses are definitely better up top, with DOPPLER, INAHOLE, and STPAULS. And I'll throw in CHASTE, too, for the Shakespeare (Cymbeline) clue "As ____ as unsunn'd snow." In the SE we've got the unusual TENTBED (35D: Comfy safari digs) (Huh.), WETCELL (37D: Battery type) (not too common anymore, are they?), two proper names, and WASABI (40D: Hot green stuff), which is always welcome.
I liked QUICKSAND (23A: It takes time to sink in), ABOMINABLE (47A: Foul), SHEAVE (38D: Bundle up), LAUNCHPADS (26D: What shuttles leave from), and SKETCHBOOK (9D: Resource for an artist to draw on?). That's a lot of nice, long material. And HEADSHOPS (41A: Pipe sellers) is timely for solvers in Massachusetts. I just read an article about hopeful head-shop-owners trying to get through all the necessary permitting and licensing so they can open up in Harvard Square. I'll still believe it when I see it, but supposedly, it's going to happen.
There's almost no glue in here. Maybe BARER, or the one-L IDYL... and BALDPATE and REPROVE are a little unusual, but it's not much. Clean, full of interesting answers, just a bit quick, maybe.
- Horace
I too had bAnAnATREE, also BALDhead before BALDPATE and ACidIC before ACETIC. Oh and IPSo before IPSE (where *is* my Latin grammar...).
ReplyDeleteI did like this one. Favorite answer: QUICKSAND.
11:13
ReplyDeleteNice time, Horace! This was a lot of fun. I got slowed down in the SE by putting in DI___sphEre. I didn't know what it was I was going for (bathysphere, maybe?), but that correct E threw me off, plus the incorrect placement of "colbert" for OREILLY.
QUICKSAND definitely for the win.