0:04:44
On Beginning this puzzle, I didn’t know what the theme would
entail. Oh, But soon it became clear: Only By filling in the beginning sounds
of “oh,” and “bee,” can we end up correctly… oh, nevermind. I’m going to leave
that kind of trickery to the constructors.
Mr. Wechsler has found five ways to start theme answers.
Each is spelled differently, and each is perfectly “in the language,” as it
were. That my oldest brother claims to have never heard of an OBIEAWARD I will credit to his living
almost as far away from Broadway as it is possible to do in the Lower 48. Plus,
the list of things he has never heard of is a long one. (Hi Dave! :) )
My favorite theme answer is OBEDIENCESCHOOL (Where education is pursued doggedly?) (Is it weird
that it is connected to THEPOUND?),
and I also enjoy that OHBEQUIET comes
at the end, as if the solver has tired of the trick.
ACTUATE (Put into
operation) was nice (I saw ACTU and quickly finished it with “pon,” which added
a little time), and BYGONE (Past) is
a BYGONE word that is nice to be reminded of. OVID was nice, because it reminds me that Frannie and I will be
visiting his hometown of Sulmona next month. That should be interesting. And on
the BAD side, I could cite COS, AABA, and GITMO. It’s
not that GITMO is that bad as fill, but I just don’t like being reminded of the reality of it.
A fine Monday.
- Horace
6:52
ReplyDeleteCOS is bad, and its cross could be ADDiN just as easily as ADDON, but I suppose, 21A couldn't be CiS, so it's fair enough. Nice to see the OBIWANKENOBI spelled out. I won't BOO the puzzle, for CRYIN out loud, but it's not the HOTSTUFF of some later-week offerings.
4:07
ReplyDeleteI agree - a fine Monday. A well done theme without any need for a revealer.