Today's time, even with a FWOE, is one second faster than yesterday's. I'm blaming a heavy dose of tryptophan.
MEIR OCCURred down in the southeastern-most point. Despite the frequency with which it appears in a puzzle, I can never remember the "Mount in Greek mythology." I vaguely recollected that it takes the form of [vowel] SS [vowel], but I made the mistake of entering guesses for the vowels and blithely moved on. One guess turned out to be incorrect, sadly. It's OSSA not aSSA. Derp. Had I recognized the birth name of BONO, this would never have happened.
After that sad bit, INEEDALIFT. LETS move on to a selection of fun clues and answers:
"Something to hold while waiting" (TRAY)
"Raked in the chips" (WONBIG)
"Overjoy" (SEND)
"Food product that's good even if it's cracked" (WHEAT)
and my favorite, "Twice-committed crime?" (BIGAMY) - ha!
We are treated to a self-referential clue at 49A:"It's found at the start of this clue" (CAPITALI). For some reason, this one seemed fairly obvious to me. On the other hand, I was totally duped by "Organization that Jordan was once part of" (BULLS) - ha! My focus on the country rather than the basketball player, plus a few other answers in that section, SLOEd me down.
LOVEPOTION is nice fill, but I didn't find the clue so enchanting ("Fantasy concoction"). And although I didn't really like the answer IMTHEWORST ("Ugh, totally my fault!") and "Grow nearer to bedtime" (LATEN) doesn't pass my SMELLTEST, the GEMS keep me looking forward to MORETOCOME.
~Frannie.
17:40
ReplyDeleteThis took me slightly more time than yesterday's, unlike Frannie. I had a minor slowdown in the SW because I entered houseCOATS where OPERACOATS belongs, but once I entered the related cross ARIA, followed quickly by BONO and IPOS, that corner fell. I've been called a MISER by some, and I do enjoy seeing the CORONA (not the beer). OBIT had an odd clue, and DOESTOATEE looks strange in the grid. Seemed about the normal Friday difficulty.
I thought the clue for 3D should have indicated that part of the answer is abbreviated. Employers of spin doctors = PR AGENCIES.
ReplyDeleteThat is a little odd... maybe because it's a late-week puzzle, they feel they don't have to alert us?
Delete12:10
ReplyDeleteAt 15A I put in cable immediately but had to wait to find out whether it would be a shirt or a BRAKECABLE. I had put in the fairly obvious-seeming OWNER (One making a pet's vet appointment), and I actually went down the line checking plausibility. OB/OS - both fine, WR/WH - both fine, NA/NI - preference for NA, but nothing definitive, EK/EF - equal, RE/RT - aha! ... true story.
In the SW, I tried DOESjusTso and INEEDArIde before sorting things out.
Fun Friday.
10:02
ReplyDeleteLiked this better than Saturday's for the flow of it.