Today's theme answers are common noun phrases, but clued as if they were spoken with
SYLVESTER's trademark lisp. So "Young woman living in a city, as 58-Across would say" is
URBANMYTH (or miss). More likely, perhaps, was "Minnie's promise, as Sylvester might say it, (
WORDOFMOUTH (or mouse)). I thought the southern most of the theme answers,
INGOODFAITH for "Looking pretty", was a little daffy. Although never a big fan of Sylvester myself, I did pick up a few interesting scraps about him from the Wikipedia where it states that he's called "an anthropomorphic tuxedo cat" and that "his scientific name is "Felis Sapiens" - ha!
Elsewhere, the puzzle was animated by such clues as "Epitome of simplicity" (PIE), "Producer of Jacksons?" (ATM), and "Toots one's horn" (HONKS). There were also some wily clues like "Dedicated work" for ODE, "Tickets" for CITES, and "Drawn" for INATIE. Fill-wise, I thought STUPOR, TAMP, and SKITTISH were real tweets.
On the other hand, this solver thought that both LETME, as an offer from a volunteer, and GNARLS for "Twists into deformity" landed with a bit of a fudd. But the only one that really bugged me was OCTAD.
That's all folks!
~Frannie.
Nice review, Frannie, except for your undisguised hatred of SYLVESTER. Although I have to admit that it's odd that he couldn't ever catch a rather slow bird. It makes one wonder how he kept himself fed. But he WAS obviously not feral and must have received regular meals from his owners. I liked the cross of GASX and HEX, not because I've ever used either; just because of the "X" they have in common. I should start celebrating with a LEI on my birthday.
ReplyDelete