CROSSWORD BUFF
Hah! An entertaining Sunday theme today. My favorite is probably "When the nudist club was founded?" MANYMOONSAGO, but "Where the nudist club orchestra plays its concerts?" BOTTOMLESSPIT also made me chuckle. And it's nice that it finishes up with FULLYRECOVERED (How people returned from a week at the nudist club?). A cute theme, well-crafted.
I also thought the opening tribute to the late Jeopardy host was nice - TREBEK (Man who had all the answers?). At the last A.C.P.T. I went to I was in the crowd when Will Shortz taped a well-wishing greeting to him. Have you all been watching the guest hosts? I thought Jennings was very good - he comes across as a genuinely kind, very smart guy. This new host - the executive producer, I think - isn't bad either, but he's not in Jennings' league.
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| Yes, they are distantly related to ostrich and emu. |
KNOSSOS (Site of the Minotaur's Labyrinth) was tough. I knew it was in Crete, but I did not have specifics beyond that. Until now. :) Also in the "place names I didn't know" category was MORIA (Balrog's home in "The Lord of the Rings").
Care to take a guess at what the world's three highest capital cities in the ANDES are? The only one I know for sure is Quito, Equador. Is La Paz, Bolivia another one? Yes! It's the highest, actually. OK, so I knew two. The third is Bogotá, Columbia. I probably wouldn't have come up with that one. After that, you have to cross the Atlantic for number four - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
When I see answers like INABIT (Soon), it makes me wonder if constructors collect words and/or phrases that can easily be adjusted if necessary. This entry could be expanded to "inhabit," for example. And IMALONE could be changed to "abalone." LADLES could be "ladies." You get the idea. Any constructors want to weigh in on whether or not that's part of the secret formula?
So another week ends today - or begins, if you look at it that way - and Frannie takes over tomorrow to start the month of March. Last March brought lockdowns. Here's hoping that, along with flowers and warmer weather, this March brings the beginning of the end of this long, strange season suffering.
Happy puzzling, and I'll see you in a few.
- Horace
p.s. "Humbugs?" BEES. Excellent.
p.p.s. Debut alert! And a nice one, too! Congrats.
Wow! Impressive debut, isn't it? I *really* wanted 1A to be TREBEK, and I'm glad it is, but I could not get the K to work on the Minotaur clue (because I'd never heard of it). Finally, BOTTOMLESS PIT convinced me...that corner was the last to fall in place.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about other constructors, but I don't really "collect" words like you describe. The adjustment comes in the act of constructing. Good examples in I'M ALONE/ABALONE, LADLES/LADIES. IN A BIT would need an extra white square to accommodate the H in INHABIT.
Terrific debut -- I enjoyed it!
Love this theme. Hope and I were chuckling all the way through. We need more like these, folks!
ReplyDeleteThis was a great theme, and really fun solve. In addition to the theme, it's always nice to see things like ITALIA and EINSTEIN ARISING on this RESTDAY diversion. I happened to know MORIA only because I'm just now finishing up my "The Hobbit" and "LOTR" project (reading, not watching). That's some dense writing in the latter; not a light read at all, but quite enjoyable. I was happy to also know ILER from the clue as it's been a few years since I've watched "The Sopranos." 28:42
ReplyDeletePolo grounds?: EAST Can someone explain this one to me?
ReplyDeleteThink "Marco Polo," JB.
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