I wasn't sure of the answer to 20A (Belt out a tune) when I began the puzzle so I left it blank, but as I filled in the downs in the north west, I "remembered" the clue, so I filled in SaNG. Later, after completing the grid, when not congratulated in the manner to which I have become accustomed, I looked at all the answers to see if I could find a typo or similar. Just looking at the fill, SaNG looked good and APLaT seemed like a perfectly acceptable "High-level H.S. English subject" so I looked elsewhere - to no avail. I realized I had to get down into the DEETS, so I re-read all the clues. Two and a half minutes later, I noticed my error in tense. SaNG became SING and APLaT to APLIT. DOH!
For today's theme, we have English-language homonyms of other languages' words for YES at the ends of common phrases: PLAINTOSEE [sí, Spanish], LAHDIDAH [да, Russian], AIMSHIGH [はい, Japanese], and THEROYALWE [oui, French]. My least favorite was LAHDIDAH because of its spelling, which seems odd to me. My favorite was the THEROYALWE because my Mom frequently used that expression.
In other multi-cultural fill, we have TEHRAN, PEKE, KTOWN (mmmm, kimchi...), CARPEDIEM, ERIE, TEAMO, THAI, SANMARINO, and TAMALE.
Other fill of which I was FOND: SPRIGS, OUST, SAPS, NEIGHS, and SLEUTHS. The two HUEs TAN and BEIGE also provided a shade of entertainment.
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| No. 1, The Larch |
~Frannie.
3:37
ReplyDeleteI had no idea what was going on. I tried to interpret some of the theme answers by the bottom one, THEROYALWE, thinking maybe if you replaced the I in an answer with "we," it would do something else. But no, the revealer was that innocuous little YES in the bottom corner. Excellent stuff. And great review!
And I immediately thought of that Monty Python reference.
Delete6:09
ReplyDeleteExcellent skit, The LARCH. Or should I say running gag (doesn't it come up a few times in that half-hour?)? I didn't know what the theme was until I read the review, which isn't unusual for me for a Monday. Not exactly MEH, but not quite ACUTE as some have been. I suppose I should visit SANMARINO at some point.