4:34
You're getting quite the potpourri of blog reviewers this week, due to a slight misunderstanding between the three of us. How about having the opportunity to directly compare and contrast review styles? I don't know. Perhaps we'd better not. I fear I'd come out at the bottom...
And speaking of the bottom, how terrible has this year of 2020 been? Leaving the politics out of it (although how can you, really?), the horrifying wildfires, the overwhelming hurricanes, the pandemic, all of these alone showing how it really isn't nice to fool Mother Nature. And then, the recent passing of Justice Ginsburg. So if you thought turning to the puzzle was a nice way to escape, today's grid didn't exactly let us do so.
CHADWICKBOSEMAN was an outstanding actor who died too soon of colon cancer. I'd like to say this is a good reminder to get your standard health screening done (and as I have turned 50 this year, mine is due), but truth be told, he likely had the onset of the cancer well before screening would have picked it up at an early enough stage to make a difference.
But let's turn from that ugly reality to the shining fantasy of THEBLACKPANTHER, set in WAKANDA, where TCHALLA uses a HEARTSHAPEDHERB to gain SUPERHUMANPOWER. It's an impressive feat to pack all of that in to one 15 x 15 grid, especially with the nice interlocking theme answers. And if ever we needed a vision of a world where all are recognized for their humanity, this year is the time.
The rest of the grid hardly appears to suffer, which is testament to Mr. Newton's skills in constructing. I note an ASDOI here, an MSS and an ENE there, but very little otherwise.
Meanwhile, we note the fun OOHOOH and it's symmetric partner YOMAMA. AMENTOTHAT! And who wouldn't chuckle on seeing 54D: Worrying sound when you bend over (RIP)?
Overall, I liked it, despite the downer at 7D.
And with that, IMOFF.
- Colum
8:24
ReplyDeleteMaybe the TEAM of bloggers should mark their calendars to avoid this sort of confusion in the future, not that I mind too much. Really I can only tell the difference between all of you based on the time that the blog is posted: Colum very late in the day, Horace quite early and Frannie in the middle somewhere. Isn't that the main difference? Nice puzzle, and it reminds me that I should probably see the film referenced. I hear it's pretty good. PARIAH is a word not seen too often in these grids, and I like AMENTOTHAT, although I'd probably never be APTTO say it, as TIS not my style. SOHOT is excellent, but maybe a bit controversial these days.
6:35 (FWOE)
ReplyDeleteDidn't know TCHALLA and guessed fLOYD, but other than that, it went pretty well. This must have been constructed quite quickly to have been edited, approved, and run all in, what, just a few weeks? Not bad.
And as for the confusion, that was all my fault. I thought I could just take an extra week as if there were no time, and after me, Frannie would go, then Colum, but apparently for those two, time exists. Sheesh!
And no, I did not realize the strangeness of talking about time in different ways in both paragraphs.
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