Friday, December 20, 2019

Friday, December 20, 2019, Zhouqin Burnikel

33:51

Ahh, the Friday puzzle, themeless and challenging, making a successful solve so satisfying. I like to think that we are all of ONE MIND on this topic.

While I did eventually triumph, here are some clues that I went MANOAMANO with for some time, thanks to their pleasing ambiguity:
"Event for which participants may take the floor" (SITIN)
"Part of a dash" (CARSTEREO)
"Alternative to white" (RYE)
"Hardly try anymore" (COAST)
1/2 vis a vis 1/3, say (EVE)

CONTOURS

The preponderance of of answers that I didn't know ("'Crime and Punishment' heroine" (SONYA), Largest steel producer in the U.S. (NUCOR), Inedible kind of orange (OSAGE), and University near the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains (FURMAN)) slowed my PROGRESSO in the north and southwest. As a side note, who knew Progresso and Campbells had the same number of letters? Or how to spell Jim NANTZ's last name. Probably AREAMAN. :)

But there was plenty to enjoy along the way with clues like "Bye line" (TATA) and "Actress whose full name can be made from the letters of DO RE MI" (DEMIMOORE), and fill like REDHERRINGS and MARESNEST.

This puzzle GETS a STAR from this critic.

~Frannie.

4 comments:

  1. 23:28
    Lots of GRATES cluing in this one, as pointed out by Frannie. I couldn't see CARSTEREO even after having C__STEREO filled in for a long time! CANYOUNOT also took me a while to fill in, since NUCOR was not known to me, either. Also, I tried NANce at first, not being a sports person, and was slowed a bit by ICYSTARE, where I'd tried "glare" initially, but really this filled in at a normal Friday pace for the most part.

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  2. 16:03
    I, too, misspelled NANTZ at first, and I had campbElls instead of PROGRESSO, lemAns instead of MONACO, and RbiS instead of RUNS. Sheesh!

    "Alternative to white" for RYE is my favorite clue. That took me a long time to see. Very nice.

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  4. 10:23
    Another outstanding puzzle from Ms. Burnikel. I had RbiS, and tried herA for RHEA. Fortunately did not fall for Lemans or Campbells. First time solving on my new iPad, so that was fun also.

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