For me, the theme's sparkle fades in and out, although, dear readers, do let me know if I've missed something; that happens to me occasionally. As spelled out in the revealer, each theme answer is a common thing ANDES, literally, or in other words, with ES added to the end of it. It is also a mountain chain, but that's not important now. For example, "For the win" becomes FORTHEWINES (Why many people visit Napa?) That one didn't do much for me, but I did enjoy HOOVERDAMES. Ha! GUESSNOTES and BABYSITES less so. BEARCUBES seemed like a bit of a stretch.
On the other hand, I enjoyed most of the rest of the puzzle. I liked the four big down answers: BERNOULLI, ANGIOGRAM, WOMENSLIB, and my favorite, ALONETIME (Period enjoyed by an introvert - apt!). There were a few French answers for the francophiles among us (ce qui AIME les EAUX). And fun fill like STOAT, TRUCE, BOOTH, RASH, MUTED, and NIX.
I was not duped today by "Half of due" and I dropped UNO right in at 62D. I felt that my indupability, combined with the fact that I knew almost all the relevant factual answers, might have resulted in a faster solve time for me today - I was YDS AWAY from my best Tuesday time. But, as they say, HAI NSA is 20/20.
When AWLS said and done, there was maybe a TAB too many acronyms around the edges, but I'm sure it helped put the puzzle TOBED.
~Frannie.
I laughed out loud at HOUSEPETES, perhaps because I had started out wondering what they had in common (did they both lose in last week's elections?). And the answer was more fun.
ReplyDeleteFinished with one error on WOMaNSLIB crossed with a place name that I expect myself to know, but it still is a fair(ish) clue because WOMENSLIB is (or at least was) a set phrase.
I also had WOMaNSLIB...who know it was plural all these years!?! I loved HOOVERDAMES - I could just see them in their hats out sight seeing near the dam. And thanks for the pictures of The Troggs! What a hoot! ~MLou
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