How do people come up with these themes?! Today's FASHIONPOLICE wardrobe - featuring a DUSTJACKET (17A: Proper attire for taking fingerprints?), a TRAILBLAZER (24A: ... for picking up a series of clues), the hilarious HOLDINGTANK (50A: ... for detaining a perp?), and a FOLLOWSUIT (59A: ... for shadowing a suspect?) - is so absurd! But it hangs well and the fit is pretty snug. :) I've got to hand it to these constructors... always tugging at phrases, turning them over and inside out, and tailoring them for other uses.
In the non-theme Across answers there are only two above five letters, the opaque-to-me AARONS (29A: Hicks and Judge of Major League Baseball), and TRAUMA, which, ironically, I enjoyed.
The Down answers, on the other hand, included a slew of sevens, eights, and nines. My favorites were the non-airport-coded LAGUARDIA and DSTUDENTS (31D: Ones far from the honor roll). Hah! I did a double take when I saw it starting out with DSTU, but I wasn't worried for long.
I'm not sure how I had never heard of the RARITAN river before, but I'm glad to learn of it now. As for EMERSION (39D: Reappearance above water, as for a submarine), well, I think I can go on pretending I had never heard of that without getting into too much trouble.
Overall, I was amused by the theme, and there's plenty of bonus fill. Thumbs up!
- Horace
8:04
ReplyDeletePlayed very slow for me, especially for a Tuesday! I don't need to add RARITAN and TULSA rivers to my list of known geographic features. I tried BADluck before BADOMEN. I had guM for DAM. I wanted EMERgInG for EMERSION. Rough stuff. But I love the theme.
I had an error on FUNzO/TEIzEN.
ReplyDeleteBut this is one where the theme makes up for a lot. Loved all the themers and the revealer with the partial exception of HOLDINGTANK (because I'd call that garment a tank top, not just a tank).
Learned something about the Arkansas River. Like just how many dams it has. Or I guess I should say "how many 41 acrosses it has".