It's a simple theme today: phrases of the form "X in the Y" where X and Y rhyme with each other. To me (IMO), three of the four theme answers work perfectly. I love MADEINTHESHADE, especially right after FUNINTHESUN. Perfect pair. EYEINTHESKY is classic.
But BACKINTHEBLACK? Yeah, I knew it was what they were looking for, but if you Google it, the only thing that comes up is that AC/DC song. And that's "Back in Black." Hmmm. If you then Google it with quotation marks around the entire phrase, you get some corporations that deal with bankruptcy and asset management.
The only other example of an answer that fit the format that I could come up with is "pie in the sky," which is a variation of one already there. Can anyone come up with other examples?
In any case, I'm not really complaining, because the puzzle over all is a delight. Look at all those great down answers: MCESCHER (the whole name!), BANSHEE, BENGALI, and NOTACLUE.
26A: High point of winter? (ICICLE) - perfect example of a QMC.
SPLAT - so evocative.
And even the low point of MOS and WKS gets a little boost from having the other in the puzzle as well.
I think this is a perfect example of a Monday puzzle.
By the way, I just glanced down at the puzzle and misparsed EPICS as e-pics (probably because I had just seen ESIGN). Is this a theme in the making? "Epics" - online photos. "Elate" - online tardiness. "Equip" - online bon mot. "Event" - online release of pentup emotion...
Hmmm. Probably not enough there.
- Colum
4:54 (on paper) (!)
ReplyDeleteWell, I enjoyed this one too, and not just because it was (I'm pretty sure) my first time breaking five minutes on paper. :)
And even though BACKINTHEBLACK was pretty much the last thing I completed in the puzzle, I didn't mind it too much. In fact, I think I might even have said it myself at different points in my life. It's better than being "dead in the red."
6:28 (no netflix)
ReplyDeleteWell, BACKINTHEBLACK seemed familiar enough to me that I just kept going. Maybe it was that AC/DC song?
But I think you are onto a great theme there, Colum. Title the puzzle "Online" and keep the clue like "Photos" and "Tardiness". And since they are short entries - come up with another 2-4 words...great Tue or Wed fare!
Congrats to Horace for breaking the 5 min barrier! Certainly up to ACPT standards!
~MLou
4:31
ReplyDeleteHow about "blast from the past?" Although that would require sixteen squares, so maybe not. Pretty fast for me for a Monday. I come down on the side of BACKINTHEBLACK being perfectly reasonable.