Are the puzzles running on the tougher side so far this week, or is it me? I started by going straight across - probably the mark of a true duffer, but it's what I usually do - and I ended up with very little to show for my efforts. I couldn't guess TAPES for "Some preserved conversations" or PPP for "Very softly in music." Is that for piano, piano, piano? The first answer I did get was ATEST, then nothing again until SERAPHIM and ONO. The row after that netted nothing, so I TAPSON the iPad screen and suddenly ATHENA answer or two, and off I went.
Today's theme is a real peach. The revealer points out that the five starred down clues, each a nice answer in its own right, has a FRUITTOPPING. I enjoyed the notion that FIGHTERJETS have a FIG on top. Somehow PLUM as part of PLUMAGE seems right. I was prepared to dispute PEARLYWHITES because I didn't see the PEAR within the PEARL at first, but then I did. :)
CURLICUES, WHIM, and LOWTIDE are lovely fill, and I think KNOB is a berry funny word.
And how about these apples?
"Minor throat problem" (FROG) -
"Makeshift pencil holder" (EAR) - anyone else try cup first?
"Someone hell-bent on writing?" (DANTE) - ha!
"Things retirees wear?" (PJS) - LOL.
I can't believe I'm so late with the review, but you know what they say, "time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana," and I've got to split.
~Frannie.
4:34
ReplyDeleteEverybody likes a vertical themed puzzle, especially when the fruit's on top. PPP stands for "pianississimo," or extremely piano. I am very impressed by how well the fruits are hidden in the theme answers. QUINCEANERA is a good example, but perhaps LEMONDE is better.
My time was typical Tuesday, and I got TAPES off the clue (albiet with a "hmm, guess I'll put this in and see later whether I need to reconsider" thought process).
ReplyDeleteI wasn't paying much attention to the theme as I solved but this bog is my prod to go back and appreciate it. And ponder not-quite-themers like Al Peachino (6 down), a Compote-ent puzzle (62 across), and Stonefruiters (54 down).
Nice. :)
Delete8:56
ReplyDeleteInteresting take on the not-quite-themers by Mr. Kingdon. And as to Frannie's question, I thought this ran a little more difficult than the average Tuesday. And I also think that LEMONDE is probably the most interesting of the five theme answers, not because it's a foreign language (because 9D is also), but because the fruit is split across two words. FIGHTERJETS is the most unexpected answer, IMO, to be hiding a fruit. STONER is amusing, but I don't think it needed the question mark.
6:33
ReplyDeleteIt may mean pianissimo, but PPP certainly stands for "piano, piano, piano." How could it not? Can't you just hear every Italian music teacher everywhere saying that? I can.
I love the heavy, vertical theme.