(Finished with one small error and one honkin' error)
So, maybe we're talking about a DNF here. I knew when I entered NIcKi/cURTISBLOW that Ms. Haley's name might be spelled with two K's but I went with the C because it looked better with cURTIS. Well, it looked better to me. Mr. Blow might disagree. So, the FWOE wasn't unexpected. But, when I made the change from C to K, and no congratulations flowed in I went back to SCAN the grid. Alas, I didn't find the error on my own; I ended up looking up the solution online. I had PoSe for "Mug" (39A) instead of the funny, old timey, and correct PUSS. Truth be told, I had had a "hmmm" moment when I saw EINe for "Starting point for a German count." It is a German word for one, just a different kind of one. However, I pressed heedlessly on. My PoSe also caused trouble with 40D: "All of America wrapped up in one book." I hadn't helped the situation by entering SwIng for a time before correcting it to SLIDE (Playground fixture). I promised myself I would return to the southeast to sort it all out, but I forgot. And when I checked the puzzle for errors, I obviously didn't do a very good job of it, so yeah, let's go with DNF. The whole thing reminds me vaguely of the old joke, "so aside from that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" Too grim?
And speaking of, we have a fabulous theme today featuring THEBIGBADWOLF. His threats to get at the three little pigs are embedded in longer phrases that end with HUFF (LEAVESINA), PUFF (CHEESE), and BLOW (KURTIS). My favorite is the CHEESEPUFF. Mmmm, airy snack item.
Despite the many problems I brought upon myself, I very much enjoyed the puzzle. There was fun fill like PATSY, TAFFETA, and TALLYHO. And who doesn't enjoy a good GASP? I especially liked the clue/answer pairs "Small matter" (ATOM), "What hot dogs do" (PANT) - spot on! - and, believe it or not, "Mug" (PUSS). And to return briefly to yesterday's subject of good clue-answer precision, how about today's "Makes too busy to do other things" (TIESUP). OPTIMUM!
There was only one clue that I thought missed that mark. For me, VAST and "Limitless" aren't really synonyms, but maybe I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Amusingly enough, I had the same errors. NIcKI (and I do know better, but apparently not enough better). And PUSe (not being up on the fine points of German, nor knowing that a PUSS can be a face as well as a feline, I don't really expect myself to have gotten this one).
ReplyDeleteAnd I really did like PANT. I thought about the sausage ("plump when you cook them", as the advertising slogan says, but plump is too many letters) and the show-off (which is even more extra letters), but was even simpler.
9:50 (FWOE)
ReplyDeleteI left PUSe in, even though it made no sense, because I was certain about EINe. Alas.... Great theme, although I know not of Mr. Blow, so the K was a guess (I know a NIKKI, so I went with that). ACID had a funny clue today, and TWEENER was humorous. TALLYHO is probably my favorite, though. Have we seen that before?
10:03 (DNF)
ReplyDeleteHow about my time, Frannie!? I had the same two mistakes as Mr. Kingdon - c and e. I found the e/s mistake, but even though I have heard the name KURTISBLOW, I did not remember that it was spelled with a K, and NIcKI looked fine to me. Ahh well.