Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Wednesday, December 2, 2020, Will Nediger

0:06:47

"Skin," "peel," "zest," and "rind" - all words for the outer edge of a FRUIT, and all formed by the first two and last two letters of the long theme entries. 

When we're talking about a lemon, they all mean pretty much the same thing, but you'd never talk about the rind of an apple, or the zest of a grape. Although I usually think of zest as the grated outer rind, not the rind itself. It only becomes zest when it's been removed. Is that how you think of it? Same with "peel," I guess. So in the end it's a little strange, but at the same time, it kind of seems ok, right? Because when you first got to the revealer, you instantly understood it.

The author with DYED blue hair
So that's my professional opinion, "It kind of seems ok" - taking into consideration, of course, that I am not a professional reviewer. There's no paywall or "Donate" button on this page. If you want to make me into a professional, you're going to have to try a little harder than that. :)

So anyway, I like that the four theme entries are so very different from one another. SKETCHESOFSPAIN is an album, PEAGRAVEL is a mundane landscaping element, ZEITGEIST is a slightly arcane, highfalutin word, and then we've got the parental command, RIGHTTHISSECOND! If you're the type of person who likes to try to figure out a puzzle's theme as you go along with your solve, good luck to you today. SHEESH!

In other news, the NYTX continues its campaign to legitimize NOSOAP as an actual expression, and not just part of a famous joke. To that I say, "NOSOAP, Mr. Shortz!" 

And I did not know "Film auteur Miyazaki"'s first name was HAYAO, so that needed crosses.

Lots of nice fill today - THEWAVES (always nice to have references to Virginia Woolf and/or the beach), IRISHSEA (another SCENIC beach reference), COLOGNE, HERALDS, WRITHES, AVOWAL, RIOTOUS, and ZEPHYR. And I like the conversational OHSNAP and MAKEME side-by-side up in the NW.

Overall, I liked this one fine. Or should I say "It kind of seems ok." Yes, that's much more professional.

- Horace

3 comments:

  1. 5:54
    HAYAO Miyazaki's movies are the bomb, and if you don't know them, you must absolutely start watching them. Brilliant beyond belief. And that's all I have to say today.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. I heard of Spirited Away when it was out, but never saw it. I'll put it on the queue.

      And thank you for the comment. I felt bad all day about my decision to leave that flippant joke about his name in the review, and may yet remove it.

      Delete
  2. 13:48
    I've not seen any of HAYAO's movies, either, and will add "Spirited Away" to my queue quickly. I almost quickly entered THEeAVES at 6D once I had a few crosses, but luckily read the two relevant clues, 6D mentioning the beach, which has generally few eaves, and 21A mentioning "sounds like a letter", which KEe doesn't, but KEW does. Is this the first time we've seen GRINDR? I've heard of it, but not seen it spelled out before. I've been to GRAUMAN's with Sue a few years back. I most remember seeing the handprints and signatures in cement of the original "Star Trek" cast. Of course, there were other interesting things there, too.

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