In keeping with my fellow blogger Horace's thought process from two weeks ago, I am foregoing announcing my time. It's not a race (although it kind of is, in my mind). Or let's say, I'd like it to be a race only with myself, rather than others. Do I take pride in finishing quickly? Yes. Do I wonder if it removes from my enjoyment of the puzzle? Yes. Could I do it more slowly? I suppose so, but I don't know how I'd do that.
So anyway, here's a timeless review. Of a puzzle with a timeless subject, namely WONDERWOMAN. The chosen theme answers are a nicely tight set: her superhero name, her alter ego DIANAPRINCE, two people who have portrayed her in LYNDACARTER and GALGADOT, and DCCOMICS, where she has always appeared. Note the little theme-related asides at 28D: Adams who played Lois Lane in "Man of Steel" (AMY), 32D: Batmobile, e.g. (CAR), and 49A: Lead-in to "man" in superhero-dom (AQUA), all in the DC universe.
I personally have been a Marvel fan more than DC through the years. I find its characters more human and flawed, which in general make for more interesting stories. And the same is true of the movies. But Wonder Woman was fun. I suppose I'll watch WW84 this winter as well.
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| AKITAS |
The rest of the puzzle is pretty smooth, if not amazing. 3D: Rising concern? (SEALEVEL) is a cute clue about a decidedly uncute situation. And STYES and GOUT are not the most pleasant things to think about.
On the other hand, I liked 20A: Like some reactions and flights during storms (DELAYED). And 9D: Rainbows, for example (ARCS), gives us a reason to look up.
- Colum
Well if this is timeless day I won't mention how long my solve was today except to say oooh this is a lot of celebrity/character names. Especially for someone, such as myself, who is dimly if at all familiar with DC Comics and various adaptations in movies, TV, etc.
ReplyDeleteIn non celebrity name related matters, am I the only one who tried inuiT before ALEUT? I'm a bit amused those are both five letters and close to the same part of the world.
Favorite answer? I'm going to go with ASPHALT. Just because it is a word whose spelling doesn't really trip off the fingers but which also is..... well a common word.
Fine, I guess I won't mention my times from now on, unless they're extraordinary. I have to say, though, that for me, a good deal of the fun, especially for an early week solve, is the time. I mean, the NYT isn't going to trip me up very often, even though the clues and answers are almost always interesting, and I like to aspire to the better times that I see others post. In other words, I am not among those intimidated by others' achievements. Anyway, this was a normal Monday time for me. I have not seen GALGADOT in the role as yet, but did see all of the LYNDACARTER episodes when they aired. I do mean to watch the movies when I get to them, but I am famously a few years behind on cinema. Like Colum, though, I tend toward Marvel if I have to make a choice. For example, "Jessica Jones" was quite good and, like he says, she's flawed, which makes her seem more accessible. Sue and I are thinking of going on SAFARI, but in Santa Rosa CA, not in Africa. We may even spend the night.
ReplyDeleteHey, I don't mind if other people mention their times. It seems like the comments is a good place for time discussion, if that's wanted. All I did was to stop making it the first thing I posted when starting a review. It crossed my mind, actually, to just move it to the comments, but so far I haven't done so.
ReplyDeleteI have nothing against sharing or discussion of solve times.