0:21:48 (F.W.O.E.)
My first entry set the stage for my solve today. I saw
“Centerpiece of a luau” and confidently entered “pigroast.” That lasted only a
few moments, however, because I was even more confident about TETES (Where les berets go) and GOTMILK (Ad campaign featuring "mustaches"), and I failed to notice that just a slight change in my first
answer would have made it right. I then just as confidently entered “même” for
“The same as in France” (EGAL), and
it would be a long time before things got sorted out in the NW. The rest of the
grid was still a struggle, but I had fewer missteps.
But enough about me, how did you like those wide-open
corners and all those lovely eight-letter answers? “Screen that keeps out bugs?”
(BETATEST) was funny, and the only
QMC in the whole puzzle! I wasn’t such a fan of “Coat placed on the ground” for
FLOORWAX, though, because is it
really the “ground?” It couldn’t have been “… placed on the floor,” but there
must have been a better way to use this idea. “Coat placed underfoot” might
have gotten people to think there was a word for that cartoony act of chivalry…
or “Coat on the deck?” No. …
The stack of ROPESOFF,
OVERTURE, and SATIATES was a good find, held together with solid material and
just one rusty pin - OUTLIE (Not
reside in the center of). Well, I suppose some would quibble with the plural ERINS, but I was so thrown by trying to
think of a “TV Burnett” other than Carol that I give that one a pass.
I also enjoyed RABBLE
(Unruly crowd), SWADDLES (Wraps),
EVENKEEL (Steady temperament), COYOTE (Prairie predator), and RADIAN (Measure equal to about 57˚).
In the end, I found myself staring at the box with the 26 in
it – the cross of “Makes deceptively attractive” and “One of many in most
families.” For the latter, I had “_ENUS,” and I couldn’t think of anything but
“mENUS,” and although that didn’t really make sense, the M made “mILDS” in the
other direction, which was a word that I could kind of believe made sense for
that clue. As we’ve remarked many times, it’s incredible what your mind will
make up/allow for when you’re stuck in a crossword puzzle! Anyway, I finally
ran the alphabet and came up with GILDS and
GENUS, but not before I had tried
entering that M. Sigh.
Still, I enjoyed the struggle today, and I kind of fear the
Saturday this week. Will it be even harder?! Tune in tomorrow, same blog time,
same blog channel to find out!
- Horace
13:37
ReplyDeleteI really doubt Saturday will be harder than this one! All those open corners. I found the SE corner the easiest by far. I hamstrung myself in the NW with "meme" (same as you - see what I did there?) and in the SW corner by putting in bellINI, who, in case you were wondering, was "the quintessential bel canto composer." ROSSINI crossing OVERTURE (with reference to William Tell) is lovely. Meanwhile, the NE corner simply refused to open up until I got PANTS of all things.
15:00
ReplyDeleteI enjoy a time to an exact minute. My favorite answer was the good old RADIAN, which is so very handy if you enjoy the calculus and other higher math. I always enjoy seeing the entire OSOLEMIO, and FREEZE was good, as was FESSED. The rest was mostly nice fill, but I agree with Horace on the terrible clue for FLOORWAX. It's definitely never used on the ground.