I know, I know... Frannie is slated to take over today, but I can't help myself. I just had to say how much I enjoyed this puzzle!
I had caught on to the theme somewhere up top, maybe with GONEGIRL (31A: Biography of Amelia Earhart?) (Too soon.), so when I got to "92A: Biography of the Venus de Milo?," the answer was immediately obvious, and I laughed out loud while filling in AFAREWELLTOARMS. Has this joke been made before? Maybe. Probably. But I did not care.
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| My hero while I was running track in high school. His 3:47:33 mile was just 22.5 seconds faster (per quarter) than my fastest mile. |
And it wasn't just the theme - there were many non-theme answers I liked too, starting with LISA (1A: Most popular baby girl's name of the 1960s, per the Social Security Administration). Sounds right to me, because I was born in the 60s, and I've only had a few real "girlfriends" in my life, but two of them were named LISA. And what about ICECORES being in the puzzle a day after all of our talk of ice caps and ice sheets? Funny.
I loved the references to Elvis Costello (PUMPITUP), FAIRUSE (90D: Why parodies can't be sued for copyright infringement), and WINDFARMS.
And finally, I just want to say I thought the cluing was excellent overall. "36A: Beep-booping droid, for short" was great for ARTOO, "52D: Doesn't go overboard?" (BODYSURFS) took this bodysurfer far too long, possibly because it crossed another very clever clue - "57A: Go through a window?" (SCROLL). A browser window! Definitely not a GIMME! See also "76A: Credit score, for short? (GPA). Hah!
In short, I thought this one really STOODOUT. Maybe Frannie will jump in to say something more on today's, or maybe she'll just start up tomorrow. We shall see.
- Horace
This is one of those puzzles that I can almost hear you and Frannie laughing it up over witting puns and enjoying the morning together. AGAMEOFTHRONES, Hah! And there's something unsettlingly preposterous and hilarious about Willie Mays as the LORDOFTHEFLIES.
ReplyDeleteOutstanding theme, with many good clues as noted above. I definitely didn't get SCROLL or BODYSURFS for a long time. I got the theme with MARLEYANDME, which I much prefer as a subtitle for A Christmas Carol than in its original form!
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ReplyDeleteI tried mary at 1A first, but LISA came with the downs easily enough. Great theme. I like the inclusion of SKIFFS and SPANDEX (BODYSURFS was already mentioned, above) as we butt up against the spring. My final entry was the "G" of ROEG/TOG. I'd guessed on the "O" at the ETOUFFEE/ROEG cross because it seemed like the only good option there. PSST was nicely clued, but I could have done without the diaper reference for NAPPY. CANNY is a word that isn't used too often without the "un" at the beginning, though. WINDFARMS is excellent, as is SEMIDRY.