4:09
The happiest thing about today is that after it's over, I will no longer be receiving unsolicited texts from political campaigns asking for money. And also, the idea that soon I will no longer be obsessing about this day. Although that probably won't go away for a few more days. In any event, regardless of your political leanings, please go out and vote if you haven't already. I hear the lines are really short!
Meanwhile, in our weekly theme of puzzles having nothing to do with the day's events, Ms. Chung and Mr. Ni continue their delightful collaborations with today's offering. The revealer, at 64A, is HANDYDANDY, which is to be reparsed as "H and Y, D and Y." And the other four theme answers, pleasingly crossing over each other, are in fact phrases of two words that follow that theme: thus, HOWDYDOODY, and HUMPTYDUMPTY. Of course, HUNKYDORY is my favorite for the following reason:
The grid is set up so that only two words outside of the central answer have to cross over two theme entries. Those two are SIDLEDUP, which works just fine, and MONOGYNY, a fascinating term I had never come across before. Not too many examples of this particular mating behavior in human cultures. I wonder why. There might be a good deal less ALIMONY!
I liked the clue for 40D: Last name of two U.S. Presidents (HARRISON). Other choices would have included Adams, Johnson, Roosevelt, and Bush. I am amused by the PORKIE. Here's what they look like:
Nothing too crazy in terms of misleading clues. And any puzzle that includes STYLI is a win in my book.
IMOUT. Hope we're all here tomorrow to discuss the puzzle.
- Colum
8:31 (FWOE)
ReplyDeleteI never looked back at the SPA/PORKIE cross. I read the across clue (not
very carefully), and having a couple of the down crosses, confidently entered yORKIE. Had I read the down, I'd have realized that SyA is not a thing. Other than that, I enjoyed the theme and the execution. And I, like Colum, hesitated briefly at MONOGYNY. I don't know that we've run into that before. And yes, it's rare in humans and takes some work that, for many, is unsuccessful. HUNKYDORY is my favorite of the themers, also. PEDWAY is a word that I don't use, but I am not a city dweller, where I'd imagine it's more common. Funny that MONOGYNY crosses ALIMONY. I thought CHANTEY looked odd. I've heard the word often, but not seen it spelled out that much.