A cute theme today of "combining" two animals in an everyday phrase. SWIMMINGTRUNKS, for example, could be what you get when you cross FISH and ELEPHANTS. And LIGHTNINGSPEED might be gotten by joining a CHEETAH with FIREFLIES. Cute. I thought EXTRADRUMSTICKS (cross of SQUID and CHICKENS) was hilariously absurd, but my favorite part of the whole theme might have been the clue for RHINOCEROS (What's known for its poker face?). That's hilarious. To me.
Speaking of good clues, "Take in the newspaper" was an excellent Non-QMC for OPED. And on the other side, I thought "Touchingly?" (BYFEEL) and "Flighty?" (AVIAN) were amusing QMCs. And "'Cheese' products?" for SMILES wasn't bad either.
GOBI (Geographical locale whose name means "waterless place") was interesting, and as if EELS weren't already weird enough, now I have to think about them having "two sets of jaws and teeth." What?!?
On the whole, I liked the theme and I thought the cluing was strong. I did think, however, that maybe we should start a new periodic feature called "Most surprising/outrageous fill." Today, I would give that title to ADZING (Shaping wood using a curved blade). That's not a word you hear much. HAWSES (Spots on ships for anchor cables) gets honorable mention.
Frannie returns tomorrow, and I'll see you in a few weeks. Stay safe, stay sane, and happy puzzling.
- Horace
I LOVE this puzzle and had a blast doing it! All the riddle answers cracked me up! What a joy to laugh out loud!
ReplyDeleteKelly! <--in an exclamation point mood ;-)
Although a few dictionaries have adz as a verb, which I suppose gives license to ADZING, I think I'll accept it more as a form of wordplay than as a usage which I'd expect to have seen.
ReplyDeleteAnd agreed the animal answers were just crackers.
27:48
ReplyDeleteVery amusing theme and puzzle, and an excellent way to spend a half-hour on Monday (I was too busy on Sunday). Lots of poultry in the puzzle (HOTWINGS, EXTRADRUMSTICKS, CHICKENS, ROOST, RHODE), which I don't take for the most part. I'm surprised that we don't have an egg in there somewhere. ADZING is surprising.