Just the other day, I was texting with my younger daughter, Cece, about the Saturday puzzle, and laughing about having SLUshEE where SLURPEE went. Is that even a thing? I asked.
Well, guess who has the last laugh now!
Um, actually, I don't know how to answer that exactly. Is it Ms. Fenimore, because she showed me that SLUSHIE is in fact a real thing? And what is the difference, anyway? Google to the rescue: Turns out that "Slurpee" is a brand name from 7-Eleven, while a slushie is the generic term.
Now that we've got that out of the way, today's theme is all about the suds. The revealer comes at 62A: "I'll have a cold one, please" ... or a hint to 17-, 26-, 43 and 57-Across (BEERME). I don't entirely get why the "me" is in the revealer. In essence, there are four names (or nicknames) of beers hidden in the other four theme answers.
Funny that Buddy was in yesterday's first theme answer, and today's first theme answer is NIPINTHEBUD. STELLAMCCARTNEY and ONCEINABLUEMOON are very nice 15-letter answers. I won't say much more about the theme, except to note that I'm also not convinced that any of the four examples are actually beer. Just as Monty Python said: American beers are like making love in a canoe - they're f***ing close to water.
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In other areas, I liked AWCMON for the way it looks in the grid, and XBOXONE for the chutzpah of squeezing in two Xs. I probably wouldn't have traded THEPX to get it, though. NOONER continues our recent string of blue material.
And one of these days, Hope and I will take a trip to visit all of our previous residences. We'll call it our USTOUR.
- Colum
Haha, Stella is a European beer. Not a gourmet beer, or craft or whatever we call it, mind you. But that's to be expected because the mass market beers are the ones that the average crossword solver is likely to have heard of.
ReplyDeleteBut enough about that, I wanted to talk about myself. This was a Finished With One Error, but a really cool one.
By way of introduction, I should say I know very little about cigars. Never heard of either a COROdACIGAR nor a CORONACIGAR.
By now if you are carefully checking my comments against the grid, you may see the issue. Which is that either LAId or LAIN fit the 46 down clue.
Or, to rephrase this entire comment *much* more concisely: close, but no cigar.
LOL. Nice comment. I like the idea of a cigar called a "Coro," which could be referred to with "Coro! Da cigar!"
DeleteHmm... it was funnier in my head than it is in writing...
"Coro! Da cigar" was laugh out loud funny for me, so don't discount it too much.
DeleteWell I made the same mistake as Mr. Kingdon, ending at 7:43 with a FWOE. I thought that CORONA..., CORiDA (but XBOXiNE not being a thing saved that one) and COROdA all seemed perfectly reasonable. Except when taking the theme into account, that is. Isn't only the Bud an American beer (of the four)?
ReplyDeleteBlue Moon, while a Belgian-style drink, is brewed in America. And strangely, while Corona is made in Mexico, it is owned by a Belgian company.
DeleteMy comment still stands for all four, even if not American.
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