Not a bad time for me for a Saturday. THANKSOBAMA. :) And I mean that. That is the one answer I knew for sure in the south west, which helped me break into that section.
The south east was the most challenging for me. I was able to get DETOX..., ART..., and STEEL... immediately, but none of the answers' endings sprang to mind. DAB, THEEU, and OUTRE eluded me for quite some time, so I had no help over there. Obviously, I eventually got DETOXDIET, ARTDEALER (well clued by "Forger's mark"), and STEELBLUE. That last reminding one pleasantly of Zoolander.
There's a lot of good long fill in here, especially the stack of three nines in the north west: COMICSANS, OPENLYGAY (with the excellent clue "Out and about?"), and PEACESIGN (☮) - who knew that dated from only 1958?
The clue "Like 'Wonder Woman'" threw me for a loop with its not-hidden-but-ignored-by-me quotation marks. I kept trying variations like 'amazonian' and 'Amazon Queen.' The other great thing about this one is the triple consonant at the start of the answer (PGTHIRTEEN), which, at least for this solver, meant that if you're unsure of the answer, you keep second guessing yourself because what starts with PGT?
And speaking of hidden clue elements, "Female deer" (HINDS) is nice because of its hidden plural - you don't see that every day.
"Plot device?" (HOE) is amusing. "Metaphorical prescription" for CHILLPILL is fun. I overthought "Film villain with one eye" (HAL). I also liked LULL, HUSHPUPPY, and SURPRISEME.
~Frannie.
9:57
ReplyDeleteIt took me way to long to realize that THuNKS____ was going nowhere fast. And there was no excuse: 47D: Arrested (RANIN) had to be in the past tense, not the present. 3D: 2004 movie featuring a clique called the Plastics (MEANGIRLS) was a gimme, so it started off fast Who doesn't love light OPERA? And 18A: It follows directions (ERN) is absolutely brilliant. I'm putting it in the favorite clues of 2018 (remember that post?).
Finally, I have to comment on 36A: Access to the slopes (SKIPASS). I keep wanting to parse it slightly differently, with the space after the P...