Oof! In the classic area of being careful of what you wish for, I am rewarded for yesterday's review by being presented with one of the toughest grids I've come across in a while. 70 words, a ton of open white space, and three hypersegmented areas, connected only by CRAZYRICHASIANS, an excellent seed entry.
My error came at the crossing of GWENIFILL and ZIA. I knew the former, but forgot how to spell it. I tried an E, but no such luck.
The only success I had in the NW initially was COO and LEVAR - ah, Geordi Laforge. How we miss ye. I just saw an episode of Community where he had a guest appearance, putting Donald Glover's character into a state of catatonia. It was highly amusing.
Fortunately I made better headway with the NE, where 12D: Unit measure for chili (ALARM) (nice) and RETIE opened things up. I am confused by 18A: Keynote, maybe (ORATE). Are we using this word as a verb? Apparently we are. Meanwhile, WOOHOO and the excellent 24D: Chinese martial arts (WUSHU), which my older daughter is very interested in, given how many of her college friends practice it, finally gave me the 15-letter crossing, which allowed me to break the NW and SE.
Nice answers here include WINATLIFE, MOSTEST, and OOPSSORRY (love the three double letters in that phrase). There aren't many brilliant clues today, but the puzzle played very hard. A good Friday challenge, and a debut entry from a new constructor.
Welcome!
- Colum
21:57 (FWOE)(same exact error)
ReplyDeleteAgreed about the level of difficulty! This was a struggle the whole way through, but a satisfying one! Slightly odd to find both FOSSILIZE and MELODIZES, and TNUTS beside TSLOT was a little strange too, but super interesting clue for TONKA! Who knew?
Is BROTOX really a thing? Can it not be, please?
31:28
ReplyDeleteThis was more difficult than a normal Friday, that's for sure. I've heard of BROTOX, but I am not sure why it exists. I was GLADTO see MOSTEST in there, just for its oddness. CATFISHES is an excellent start.