Today, in place of a traditional theme, we have a SIXWORD story attributed to ERNESTHEMINGWAY: FORSALE BABYSHOES NEVERWORN. Horace looked into the story a little and, according to the Wikipedia, Arthur C. Clarke mentioned in a letter that Hemingway won a wager with this story from a group at either Lüchow's or the Algonquin. Although the anecdote is unsubstantiated, the story sure does convey a lot with a little.
I found the cluing so apt that I often immediately knew the answer. For example, when I read "Elevate, redundantly," I dropped in RAISEUP. Other such examples include "Divulged" (SPILLED), "Unwelcoming" (ICY), Oust (DEPOSE), and "Feeling of a frosty wind" (NIP), all of which helped contribute to a fast Thursday time for this solver.
I thought the question mark clues (QMCs) were all amusing, and one or two produced outright yuks.
Bed of roses? (SOIL)
Gator's tail (ADE)
Not so fast? (LOOSER) - very nice!
And my favorite: Burning desire (ARSON) - ha!
I also liked, "It adds punch to punch" (RUM) and "People found in rows"(GARDENERS).
And speaking of la belle France, Hyguens, how about today's non-skirt clue for MIDI?
~Frannie.
14:15
ReplyDeleteNice time again, Frannie! Yes, I noticed that the MIDI clue was non-skirt, but it wasn't particularly to my liking since I've never heard that term, and consequently required all of the crosses. I did like the NORSEMAN clue, however, since we were recently in Iceland, and CANASTA (which I entered immediately) reminds me of "History of White People in America," so that's welcome. Oddly, I've read that ERNESTHEMINGWAY story at some point decades ago (now everyone solving this crossword can add it to their own list of books read), but I needed many crosses to fill it in. I'll try to memorize it, though, in case it comes up again. Who knew it would've come in so handy?
This was tougher for me than youse guys, but I loved seeing CANASTA at 1A. That was once a big game in the family.
ReplyDeleteYeah... we should bring that back some one of these Augusts...
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