Well, here's a clever theme I never thought of. :) Theme answers contain runs of 2-4 letters of the alphabet from EASYASABC to XYZAFFAIR, by way of such cool strings as MOSDEF and FILMNOIR FTW. The letter sequences are indicated in the clues by the letters' numbers in the alphabet, e.g., 55A: "Silly marketing ploy designed to get attention [18, 19, 20]" (PRSTUNT). Neat! Somewhat oddly, PRSTUNT while clued with a three-letter run, actually includes a four-letter run ending with U, but apparently Mr. Larsen preferred to group letter 21 in UVWAVE (Tiny bit of sunlight, for short [21, 22, 23]), resulting in a bit of overlap, but nothing to STRESS about.
There were a couple of other clues that looked a bit like alphabet soup including PTSD, ROFL, VHS, ASDOI, and IDO but did not appear to be part of the theme. :)
I had to GOETHE distance to remember ARRID (Ban competitor). I also enjoyed both clue and answer "Toupees, in slang" (RUGS). Other fill that WFM includes PIXIE, LUAU, SAYSWHO, RUPEES, and WILT.
I didn't know ODA (Room in a harem), but OCTAHEDRA helped me complete that answer. OTOH, ALTI nearly derailed my solve today. I entered ALTo at first, because ALTI? Fortunately, I realized FoLMNOIR wasn't a thing before it was too late, but I've really got to pay more attention to the clues in the clues to try to head off these PEBKACs.
And, IMO, the clue for KRAFT should probably have read, "Big name in cheese product." :) In support of this opinion, I notice one of the top results when I google Kraft cheese, one of the FAQs was "Is Kraft cheese real cheese?" EOD.
~Frannie.
We should have some cheese product as part of our reception in honor of this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteODA is a crossword chestnut. Unfortunately for me, my memory only extended to "oh yeah, that crosswordese I haven't thought of since the last time I saw it in a puzzle". Fortunately for me, all three of the crosses were gettable.
8:24 (on paper)
ReplyDeleteA very deliberate pangram. I liked it, despite the oddities mentioned above.
Mr. Kingdon, are you going to be in Stamford this weekend? If so, we should definitely have some cheese product on Friday night! :)
9:51
ReplyDeleteI got the theme right away, but it still took me a bit longer to solve than a usual Tuesday. ROFL isn't something I ever use and DJKHALED is unknown to me. I know of MOSDEF, but couldn't pick him out of a lineup or name a song that he sings. I was shockingly able to put in BACKUPQB fairly quickly (not quite off the clue, but after only two crosses). I really DIDST enjoyed the "authentic" LUAU that Sue and I attended on Kauai, but wouldn't GOETHE to one again, probably. TATA.