To my list of categories to brush up on, let's add drummers and United Nations personnel. In an effort to post a fast Friday solve time, I rashly and groundlessly entered AdNAN at 16A. I went blithely along filling in other across and down answers, never looking back, and I ended up with BOdHAM at 1D (Drummer John of Led Zeppelin) (not his real name). I only noticed the error when, after completing the puzzle, no "Congratulations" message appeared. I quickly (note to Horace) realized BOdHAM should have been BONHAM, and ANNAN for "1997-2000 U.N. Chief" seemed legit. :) IAMB, as always when I FWOE, SAWII to have made such a MESA it.
While for some of our esteemed readers, the above described PITFALL may call into question my credentials as a reviewer, I will press on and aver that I thought this was a fairly ESE Friday. There, I said it.
There was LODES of fill with a contemporary flavor including FLATBROKE, CLAIMTOFAME, FORTHEWIN, NOTCOOL, and my favorite on the day, the new-to-me, FUNEMPLOYED. Ha! Also excellent, if less modern was IMPRIMATUR. And, somewhere in the middle was the apparently old timeyish (if the Interwebz are to be believed), but new-to-me, Bushwa (ROT). I asked myself WADIS this word? So I read its origin story. Who knew?
I also enjoyed the following clues/answer pairs:
Calculating competitors (MATHLETES)
Piques (WHETS)
Natural coats (RIMES)
In conclusion, I'll CES that there was a fairly LAO ratio of crosswordese to good SECTS-y fill and I enjoyed the puzzle.
~Frannie.
8:03
ReplyDeleteLOL. Good thing there's no one else in my office right now, or I might soon be FUNEMPLOYED for laughing so much as to disturb the peace. And I can't believe you didn't even mention good ol' David TENNANT. What kind of bushwa is that?! :)
Oh, and thanks for telling me you actually do know John BONHAM's name. :)
ReplyDelete13:25
ReplyDeleteLuckily, I know of both John Henry BONHAM and Kofi ANNAN. TENNANT was a good Doctor, although not my favorite. I like Matt Smith of the newer ones the best, but haven't yet seen how Jodie Whittaker is doing with the role. Hilarious review, Frannie. Sue and I were just discussing CHAIRYOGA yesterday, and how it is decidedly not exercise that is in step with our definition. MATHLETES is great, as is FUNEMPLOYED (new to me, too). Certain Star Trek captains use a READYROOM, though not all. Fast-ish time for me for a Friday, but I was off and running with BFFS and the rest just flew in.
6:36
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for WHETS - that finished off BONHAM for me. Yes, I have heard of him, but pulling drummers from classic rock bands from my memory has never been a strong point for me. Great puzzle, but a better review, IMO. Nobody's questioning your credentials round here.