Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Wednesday, December 25, 2019, Bruce Haight

6:42

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, and a happy day off for those who don’t! We are having a somewhat reduced celebration here in Albany, as for the first time in years, my two brothers and their respective immediate families are elsewhere. But the spirit is still present, and I am grateful for everybody’s health and happiness.

And in the spirit of giving, Dr. Bruce Haight has crafted a perfect present for the holiday. Or should I say ho-ho-holiday? Well, no, because the good doctor has nicely only chosen words for his theme with HO pronounced with a long O, so the “ho ho ho” continues to sound correct. Thus, 50A: What Santa said when going down a chimney that had a lit fireplace? (HOHOHOLYSMOKES). That one was my favorite.

Perhaps LANDHOHOHO is slightly less clever than the others, if only because the HO is not hidden in a longer word. But still the overall theme is fun, and with five long theme answers, each at the very least cute, and in the case of a couple, chuckle-worthy, I’m more than satisfied. Definitely worthy of the good doctor’s zany sense of humor that we’ve come to know and love over the years.

Not a ton of clever clues today. I liked 27A: It’s an affront (SLAP) and 68A: What you may call it (NOUN). Not to mention the very silly 9D: Place where one might hear “That’s my cue!” (POOLHALL). Hah! And there were a couple of bonus answers in OLDIE, HEN, and ASH.

Overall, it was a lot of fun.

- Colum


4 comments:

  1. I loved it...had me laughing out loud. Merry Christmas, and thank you for this blog!

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  2. I spent so much time wanting korAn instead of ISLAM. But no matter whether you soell it qurAn or probably some other choices, it still wasn't working with the crosses. At all. Eventually I got a few more crosses so I could put my mind at ease.

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  3. 11:52
    Quite a nice Christmas present, as Colum mentions. I enjoyed LANDHOHOHO due to its nautical nature, and even though it isn't part of a longer word, like the others, at least it's a well-established phrase, so I'll give it a pass. Nothing really POPIN in this one, but no LEMONs. I was happy to drop KAHLO in off of the clue; it seems I know a thing or two after all. OKTHEN was nice, but STREP is, on the whole, unwelcome.

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  4. Wait a minute- what about the clue for ASH........"All the dirt on Santa?"

    that was my favorite one! Bruce Haight

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