Saturday, August 24, 2019, Sam Ezersky

11:12

I am a bit punchy from being on call and spending nearly seven hours in the hospital non-stop rounding today, so I'm proud of my time. And I probably could have been even faster if I'd trusted my instincts to put PSALM and PROTIP in at 1D and 1A respectively.

Mostly, though, I am in awe of Mr. Ezersky for 65A: E-sharp? (TECHSAVVY). First off, that clue. How awesome is the misdirection here? The e- prefix, masquerading as a musical notation. And in light of this week's blog, I am now completely certain that Mr. Shortz has rearranged the appearance of these puzzles to answer my first post of the week. But even better than all of that, is the way that it's placed in the bottom row. So much chutzpah to end two consecutive down answers with V!

There's a lot of fun cluing today. I like 47D: Not fair at all (STORMY). It's a prime example of a non-QMC still being ultra tricky. As is 20A: Small construction piece (LEGO). Wow! Very small, when it comes to most construction clues. And to complete the trifecta, you get 22D: Item put in a lock (OAR). Not a key.

I love 35A: Unbelievable discovery in one's field (CROPCIRCLE). Very cute! I twigged to the idea that it might not be the metaphorical field of one's area of work or research, but still needed a bunch of crosses to get to the answer.

I don't love OID, I really don't like ATRACE (which is an odd partial), and I particularly don't like 12D. Which I can't even type in. But that's a topic for an entirely different kind of blog. But there is definitely enough fun here to make up for those items, and a fun way to finish the turn.

- Colum