We encounter a number of unhappy workers in today's puzzle - four to be exact - each of whom needs a little something to improve his or her situation. Interestingly, the missing element is particular to the person's occupation - one might even say apt. For example, "the unhappy calendar maker ..." NEEDSAWEEKOFF and "the unhappy elevator operator ... " ASKSFORARAISE. Apt! I do hope a little excitement comes the way of the unhappy drill press operator who FINDSWORKBORING, but I can't wish "the unhappy orthopedic surgeon ... " who WANTSMOREBREAKS success because that would mean a lot of people got ERTE.
I love the word THWARTS. I also enjoyed OVID in the northwest and its near parallel, AVID, in the northeast. BARNS for "They're raised on farms" was a nice twist as was "Isn't square" for OWES. I thought "Casually try" for DABBLEIN was spot on. My favorite clue/answer pair today was "Cottage cheese morsel" (CURD).
BSIDES two false starts - I tried BrAy for BLAT (Beginner's trumpet sound) and 'blasé' for JADED (World-weary) - I didn't hit many snags, and both were quickly corrected by the Downs. I'd say I finished INDECENT time for a Thursday.
~Frannie.
Ha, I wanted tooT for the trumpet sound. Although I will admit that it doesn't really capture the "beginner" part of the clue.
ReplyDeleteI too kind of like the word THWARTS but I was moderately stuck about how to spell it. Maybe because I'm more used to the form "thwarted"? Or because I just hear it, don't read it?
6:30
ReplyDeleteThis was a fun theme, and the whole thing started off with some interesting trivia about velociraptors!
10:14
ReplyDeleteI found this really easy for a Thursday (I hope that Horace's father tried it out for some fun on his 88th birthday). Ah, MSDOS. I used to do a fair amount of this and that on those screens, but don't have the need any longer for some reason. Of course, I still miss BASIC. BARNS, in the "raising" sense, always reminds me of the excellent "Witness." Odd to see the singular DORITO.