As the first in a triple stack of fifteens, LEADEROFTHEPACK is a nice start, and apt. Apt! The next two in the top triple became clear as I chipped away at the downs. I had heard of an ALFAROMEOSPIDER but I was not familiar with Notorious B.I.G.'s oeuvre GOINGBACKTOCALI.
The bottom triple stack was more of a challenge. Thanks to a few key downs, including the familiar old chestnut Bert CONVY, I was able to guess the middle fifteen, ALLOVERCREATION. But, while I have heard of MATRYOSHKADOLLS, if someone had asked me if I could spell the name of them off the top of my head, I would have said NOMAAM. ALAINRENELESAGE rang a vague bell, once I completed the answer thanks to copious guessing on the downs, but the name didn't leap to mind. I read a bit about the man on the Wikipedia. He seems like an interesting guy. Maybe I'll read "Gil Blas."
Flanking the fifteens were a COPA other good entries. To wit:
New toy? (PUP) - cute
Pair of nines? (ENS) - fooled again!
Tar (OLDSALT) - both such flavorful nouns
Prepare for a bomb, say (GODEEP) - nicely ambiguity
Brother-to-be (PLEDGE) - I was sidetracked by the religious kind of brother
Place to count sheep (LEA) - It took me too long to put this one to bed
Interesting to learn that AIRMAIL commenced in 1911. So near, and yet so far.
~Frannie.
11:37
ReplyDeleteFun! ECSTASY! I got MATRYOSHKADOLLS off the M, but was thankful that Hope was helping out, because she got RAUNCH and correctly identified Mr. CONVY, whom I'd never heard of. Also fortunate, because COPA would have been a guess for that initial C.
TOKYOGAMES is a bit ad hoc, but very impressive to put it through that triple stack.