Everybody enjoys a Spoonerism, right? It's the transposition of two consonant sounds in a sentence (e.g. "The Lord is a shoving leopard," "A blushing crow"). Well, today we have three such examples, each transposing an M and a W. BUTMATETHERESWAR! There's also grid art, showing Ws and Ms swirling in the center, and I like to think that disjointed equals sign is somehow explaining that we have to swap one for the other. It's like that time on "Mork & Mindy" when Mindy was possessed by the devil and Orson yells "Waste her, Mork!" No, wait, I meant to say it's a masterwork!
Wow, that was a long way to go for that. But was it any farther than ""Just a reminder: the golf course is reserved for the guys tomorrow," e.g.?" for MENSDAYWARNING? I'm not so sure it was. Still, the absurdity made me laugh, and who could ask for more on a murse-day thorning?
OK, let's talk instead about some of the non-theme material. Constructors might sometimes get a little BADPR when reviewers get HUNGUP on the OVERUSE of certain entries (ETTU, ETNA, TTOP), but WELLOKAY, when it's all in the service of a hilarious theme, I'll not GETNASTY. Besides, there was more humor to be found in the clues "One who might say 'Thank God it's Friday'?" (CRUSOE) and "Ones playing things low-key?" (BASSES), and I enjoyed "Subdivision subdivision" for LOT.
There were quite a few names, some of them obscure (ELI, HUTTON, CEDRIC, HEEP, ELSIE, ARES, ASTIN, HALS, ONO), and once again, I can't help relating ONHOLD (Temporarily suspended) and DOWNTURN (Market woe) to the troubling times we are all experiencing, but ALLINALL, I enjoyed the theme so much that I still AVE praise POR the fuzzle.
- Horace
I enjoyed the Spoonerisms! I had a mix-up today on "Jungfrau," filling in with the ALE instead of the ALP. This resulted in YIEE, which seemed like an odd but plausible exclamation, but I now see it's YIPE...
ReplyDeleteI don't know if this helps or not, but I looked up "Wednesday Morning" and found two things: a Simon & Garfunkel album (subtitled "3 a.m." and a model named "Wednesday Mourning."
ReplyDeleteAlso? SCROD is getting harder and harder to find in Boston, of all places!
7:01 (FWTE) - same mistake as Henry. I had WELLsure and ALE, so I had eeeE for YIPE. Seemed reasonable, even as I corrected to WELLOKAY. YeeE. Still seemed okay. Mind you, this ELe Long seemed an odd one.
ReplyDeleteI loved the theme, but with three theme entries, I would have preferred more fun in the fill. Tough when you have OSU CSU and USC all in the same grid.
Thanks guys- entertaining write-up! Will Shortz told me to be sure to read your column today, so he is obviously a fan. Did you catch the pics of Pete and me sporting our M and Ws on Xword info? Stay safe! Bruce
ReplyDeleteHi Bruce, thanks for checking in. And yes, I did see that photo, and I thought the Wisconsin/Michigan coincidence was amazing. And speaking of alma maters, did you see that Beloit's hybrid plan for school in the fall is getting national attention?
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ReplyDeleteThis one took me a little while to figure out, but it was enjoyable all the way through. I needed some crosses for EPHEDRA and TOELOOP in the NE, and for the Spoonerisms themselves, but really there were no big slowdowns on which I can blame my slowish time. CRUSOE didn't fool me for a second.