This was a tough Wednesday solve for Yours Truly. AREPAS (8D: South American corn cakes) are not a thing I'm familiar with, although I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy them, because who doesn't like a corn cake? And LAPLATA crossing ALI (1A: "Aladdin" prince) was my undoing. The former rings a faint bell now that I see it, but I was not expecting the article at the beginning, so I guessed R, and then a few other letters, before getting the L. So is that more than one error? Well... no, because if it were actually judged at a tournament, it's still just the one square that's incorrect.
Anywhoo, LAPLATA and I will now become OLDFOES. Maybe that will help me to remember it. :)
The theme today is an odd one, which I will sum up as "two-word names for things where the first word is a fruit and the second word can be read as a verb that means 'to go away,' with the result being that the fruit disappears leaving you FRUITLESS." Nothing could be simpler! I guess they are suggesting that "peels" should be understood as "peels off?" Maybe?
I was surprised - in a good way - by some non-theme answers, like FRATROW (38D: Home to many Greeks, informally), ACROBAT (1D: One going head over heels?), and ATOM (27A: Something divided in W.W. II). KOOL (45A: Noted 1970s-'80s Gang leader?), too, was one that took all the crosses. That's the band KOOL and the Gang. Wow. Nice one.
Overall, the theme certainly is different, and I should have taken the time to figure out LAPLATA and ALI... is that ALI Baba? I guess maybe I'll have to watch Aladdin again... I would have preferred a little less obscure material - TSTRAP, BANC, OHO (am I the only person who doesn't believe this is a real expression?) - but then there was some nice long fill too - BISTROS, RATRACE, BRITCOM, SPREADOUT - so I'll give it the ol' "it was fine."
How'd you like it?
- Horace
6:12
ReplyDeleteHad to guess at the T of TSTRAP myself, but TAGON was the best bet. I also liked MAESTRO. Anyway, the next time somebody asks me to CATSIT, I will reply OHO!
Well, then again, maybe not.
When I saw that the head over heels one was a bat I really wanted it to be FRUITBAT but (a) wrong number of letters, (b) would have been too good to be true and perhaps I was just overly influenced by the theme, and (c) I suppose bats are heels over head. Although now that I research it, it seems like "heels over head" not only makes more sense, but in fact was the accepted version of the phrase for about four hundred years. At least according to http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hea3.htm
ReplyDelete9:58
ReplyDeleteI haven't made stuffed GRAPELEAVES in a while. I guess this would have been slightly better had LEMON/DROPS and BANANA/SPLITS not been split up, but this is just fine for a Wednesday. TAGON isn't great, so that middle section up in the north took me a few seconds to PONDER since I'm not familiar, much, with a TSTRAP. SPREADOUT is great because it's so Stooges.