Let's get right to it, shall we? SEMORDNILAP actually means "Reversible word." It is a neologism for a word that makes a different word when spelled backwards. In contrast to palindromes, which are the same word when spelled backwards. But one's plural, the other isn't. Weird.
My error did not come there, however, it came at "Like the daughter in 2018's "A Quiet Place." I never saw that movie, but I thought the title could indicate a sad drama and guessed DEAd. ELECTRICdAN didn't really make any sense at 10-Down, "Cooler filled with juice?," and I knew that, but it took me almost eight minutes to figure out what it really was (ELECTRICFAN). By the way, I saw a movie called "The Bélier Family" recently, where the daughter in the family was the only one not deaf. I can recommend it.
What about TRE? It's clued with "Pope Francis III?" Why? What am I missing here? It seems it should have an apostrophe if they are trying to say that he would use the Italian word for three when reading that roman numeral. Anybody able to explain this to me?
One last little gripe before I get to the good stuff - to me, and, I think, to many others, RICES does not really mean "Puts through a sieve" unless you take a very broad view of sieves. Sieves produce a mush. Ricing produces something that looks more or less like rice, and is often done with a grater, but special ricing tools also exist. This has come up before in the NYTX, and my rants, apparently, have been unheeded. I should give it up, you say? IWILLNOT! :)
My difficulties soured this puzzle a bit for me, which is a shame, because there were many moments during my solve when I was happier. When I got "Weakness of note?" (TINEAR), for example, or BEET (Cardiologist's favorite vegetable?). INLEAGUE (Conspiring (with)) is a fun expression, and "Round up?" is an amusingly descriptive clue for DOMED.
Overall, NOTTOOBAD, but not my favorite.
- Horace
11:18 (FWOE)
ReplyDeleteMy mistake came at 13D: I put in DOMEs, and because it was my second to last letter entered, I didn't see the mistake until after the failure message came up. I have no problem with the lack of 's in "Pope Francis III?" It could certainly be there, although then there would be no need for a question mark. It is interesting that they have chosen the only Spanish speaking pope to clue an Italian word however.
You need to see A Quiet Place. Outstanding movie.
I too had a bit of a "huh?" for Pope Francis III. And SEMORDNILAP does seem like it is closer to legit than EMORDNILAP which I guess makes sense although it would be funny if it were pluralized by adding an "S" to the *start*.
ReplyDeleteBut good reminder about BEET, TINEAR, and DOMED. I liked those.
38:08
ReplyDeleteCould TRE be Argentinian for three? That would make more sense. It took me a long time to solve this puzzle because there are some tricky clue/answers in there, but no errors. I agree about RICES. COMEATME is humorous. I needed every cross for SEMORDNILAP.