Today's theme is an elegant re-arranging of the letters in the word "mind." The re-arrangements are fit into longer entries, and they proceed in an orderly fashion from left to right across the grid. It's really quite nice. Of the container entries, my favorites are LEONARDNIMOY, of course, and MIDNIGHTINPARIS.
In order to attain that level of beauty in the theme required, apparently, certain concessions. ILEDE (____ la Cité (bit of land in the Seine)) is odd on many levels. Calling it a "bit of land" seems a tad dismissive for the center of one of the world's great capital cities, and the French partial does not seem very Monday-friendly. MISMARK (Place an "X" in the wrong spot on, say) isn't great, and ITD ("____ be my pleasure") is nobody's pleasure.
On the other hand, IRRELEVANT (Not pertinent) is a nice long Down, BIGMOMMA (Title house owner in a 2000 Martin Lawrence comedy) and NONEVENT (Happening that's no big whoop) brought smiles, and who doesn't love a NOSEGAY (Small bouquet)?
Lastly, I was further amused by two clues toward the end - "About which someone might say 'Get the lead out!'" for ORE, and "What just happened?" for NEWS. Really, the lower half of the grid worked better than the top for me, and it's always nice to finish on a high note.
Strong theme, only a few minor ACHEs... thumbs up.
- Horace
I always enjoy a Andrea Carla Michaels puzzle. And wondering what building is on a $50 bill was fun. "pyramid"? No, thats the $1. "White House"? Doesn't fit. "Capit..." Careful there on the spelling of that one. Fortunately the cross FINDMYIPHONE made it easy to confirm that part.
ReplyDelete3:28
ReplyDeleteDefinitely some rough patches here. MISMARK just doesn't work at all for me. But the theme is fun, and the puzzle played just about normal for a Monday, so why pick nits?
6:30
ReplyDeleteThe worst was ILEDE, which Horace mentions. Other than that, the theme was enjoyable, the full LEONARDNIMOY welcome and NONEVENT excellent. I could have done without ICAL, ZINES, ENE and ATOZ. I have never seen a BIGMOMMA movie (and do not intend to do so), but I am aware of them, and I thought DOTTY a nice entry. All in all, an AVERAGE Monday offering, IMO.