A real sleeping beauty today! The theme gives the nod to the old Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "Prinsessen paa Ærten" which, according to the Wikipedia, can be literally translated to "The Princess on the Pea," which according to me, has been literally translated into this puzzle. It features the dream team of MATTRESS sizes embedded in longer answers: QUEENOFMEAN, FULLBODIED, TWINSISTER, and KINGSOLOMON. Each bed size has the word PEA - brilliantly lumped together in one square in rebus form - under it and a PRINCESS lying above them both (BELLE, LEIA, XENA, ANNE). Genius.
The puzzle is stuffed with other great material including
Flap (ADO) - Nice to see this old chestnut again. It's been too long.
Admiring words (IMAFAN)
Paroxysm (THROE) - both excellent words
Bunkum (SNAKEOIL)
Tippled (HADAFEW) - how about a variation for a future puzzle: drank a citrus flavored PepsiCo soda (hadadew)
Debunk? (Roust) - reminds me of my youth when I was in charge of getting my little sister up for school in the morning.
He might provide assistance after a crash (ITGUY)
Collapsed red giant? (USSR) - ha!
Parts of Mr. Clean and Lex Luthor costumes (BALDCAPS)
And my favorite on the day: "Discharged matter" (EGESTA). Wonderful.
The section that gave me nightmares was the middle south where too many unknowns lurked. "Home of the ancient Temple of Artemis" (EPHESUS), "Simba's father in a Disney musical" (MUFASA), "N.L. Central player (CUB), "Who wrote 'The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting'" (SUNTZU), New Left org. (SDS) - although I should have this one memorized by now! - and "'Skylarking'" band (XTC) all had me tossing and turning. I should have known SOS ("'Mamma Mia!' song that begins 'Where are those happy days?'") but I blanked on it.
Peas under my personal mattress might be EPIC as a match for "grandiose" and the partial spell out BARBQ (Backyard get-together, briefly) but in such a well-executed puzzle they are really nothing to lose sleep over.
~Frannie.
This was a really clever theme, I thought. I saw the princesses, but missed the mattress types until Frannie made it clear to me. Very nicely done, Mr. Last!
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