It's not even Hallowe'en and we're starting in on the spooky stuff! I enjoy this time of year, and it's not because of the already opened bags of candy on our counter. Nobody's been eating those. Nope. Not a soul.
Today's puzzle takes as its theme the GRAVEYARDSHIFT, and interprets it literally by shifting the letters RIP along from left to right as the puzzle moves down. Did we need the grayed in squares to point out the theme? I'd love to try one of these puzzles without the unsubtle hinting and see if I have enough nuance to figure it out on my own.
Meanwhile, the theme answers hide the RIP well, in my opinion, except for the amusing GIVEARIP, which wins just on its own. SUNRIPEN is nice because of the image, the Proustian taste sensation it summons forth, and because the RIP is pronounced differently.
I enjoyed STYLIZED (although I'm not sure I accept SEEPY as the price). Also GOFLYAKITE is excellent. We should have more of these phrases in puzzles. There must be a MYRIAD of them to draw from!
My favorite clue today came at 44D: Like ghosts and goblins? (PLURAL). Bonus theme material 'lert! (Along with BOO.)
- Colum
I agree on the shaded squares, but that's not my call. Glad you liked it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading! Always great to hear from the constructors.
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ReplyDeleteI wish the first line of this review had read "It's not e'en Hallowe'en..." but one can't have everything, can one.
I found this kind of tough for a Tuesday, especially in the lower right - ERL, EGIS, LENAPE, and even GIVEARIP not coming immediately to mind. Of course, I still finished it pretty quickly, so it's not like it was unfair or anything. And like we always say, harder is fine by us.
I liked it.
PLURAL was my favorite way of sneaking in theme material that I have seen in a while
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