Today's puzzle does the /du:/, if I may misuse a soft drink slogan. Its five theme answers end with that sound spelled a variety of ways, although I beg to differ with the inclusion of PASDEDEUX in the group. The final syllable there is pronounced /dʊ/, at least where I come from. My favorite is NOCANDO. My second least favorite is SCOOBYDOO, having never been much of a fan. It is nice, though, that 15A "Great Dane, e.g." (DOG) appears directly over Scooby's DOO. There's also a MOO / COO cross in the mid west. Woo hoo!
Other fill that did do it for me included BALKS, VAT, ASCOT, POP, and FINITE. I loved both the clue "Dingbat" and its answer NINNY.
As a reviewer it is my duty to also mention clues that didn't do it for me. They included the rather lecid "Escalator feature"(STEP), the indigestable "Vegetarian's no-no" (MEAT), the somewhat sticky "Harmful cigarette stuff" (TAR), and of course SHUNT, which is always a don't.
~Frannie.
This was a puzzle that seemed to be going slowly, with me needing to shift from one part of the grid to another. Untill I finished and looked at the clock and saw 7:10 which is pretty respectable by my standards.
ReplyDeleteReally wanted the cartoon great dane to be Marmaduke. But it was not to be.
4:29
ReplyDeleteIt's fine. DOO, DEW, DO, DUE ... DEUX? I agree with you Frannie, that one doesn't fit.