Today's theme is ROLLWITHIT. That is, take the last word of the theme answers and put "roll" with it. Eye roll is strong. Forward roll I'm less sure about. Is that a somersault? California roll is sushi, and I'm on board with that. But what's "camera roll?" I've been working in photography since the 1980s and I'm still not 100% sure what's meant by camera roll. Is it film? Is it said more in the movie world? I don't know. I do know I score the theme at 50%. Not IDEAL.
But all was not MISERY. We've got some language-y answers in CHERI (Paris sweetheart) (I tried "amour" at first), PLAYA (Spanish beach), and FELIZ. And does MEOW qualify as a different language? :)
I would have said that Singapore was actually part of the MALAY peninsula, not that it was below it, and Wikipedia appears to back me up on that, but I guess technically it is an island, so maybe it doesn't really count as being part of the peninsula? I think Cape Cod is technically an island now that that canal is there, so do we call Massachusetts the land to the west of Cape Cod? I know, I know, not really an apples to apples comparison ... but I'm going to ask my brother who's living in Singapore about the MALAY peninsula the next time I talk with him, and if I remember, I'll report back to you about it.
Puzzles can bring up so many questions, right? At least for NERDS like me. :)
Congratulations to Ms. Ettin on a NYTX debut. Even though I trashed the theme a little, it was ELSE OKS by me.
- Horace
Hey Horace, I think in the 2nd themed clue, ROLL goes with PAY not FORWARD. Maybe that ups your score somewhat? Up here north of the border we call it LABOUR DAY... I was bedevilled by typos on this one and wound up 3:23 - so my sub-3 holy grail will have to wait..
ReplyDeleteI finally tried an ACAI berry a week ago, after having entered it into dozens of crosswords. Not bad!
I like "payroll" better, but the revealer does say "... or a hint to the ends of ..." so I'm afraid the ruling stands.
DeleteI had a fast start, but needed a cross or two for FROYO, IRKING, THRU, and some others. Ended up with 3:57.
Seems easy, even for a Monday: "Cover for a smartphone," "Snow clearer," and "Library item" would all be fun to clue for a Saturday, wouldn't they? But here they're all the first thing that comes to mind. Best feature of the puzzle is the "Popular berry" duo. As for the theme, I must admit, I thought it was poor.
ReplyDelete4:50 for me, which is fast for a Monday. I guess I'd agree with the 50% on the theme scoring, although I'd allow partials and probably boost it to a 75% or 80%. I also agree on MALAY and thought the same thing during the solve, but it does seem to be *technically* correct. Also, I always associated GORY with consisting of bloody body parts, most often internal, so I thought that a bit off, too. The CTY Project just started playing HOTELCALIFORNIA, so that's timely for me.
ReplyDelete2:54 for me. Isn't a camera roll just the old-time roll of film you put in your automatic camera?
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm completely fine with forward roll. It is a somersault.
DeleteYeah, ok, forward roll is a thing, but I argue that nobody says "I did a forward roll."
DeleteAs for camera roll, I find out from the Googles that it's a place in an Apple phone app where all your photos are stored. So it turns out that it's probably too current and iPhone-y for me, and sometimes that happens.
Colum, you're right. I think it might even be an old photographer's term for a roll of EXPOSED film, but I'm not sure. 2:54 = scorching, just like the weekend was here in Toronto!
DeleteLook, who are you going to believe on this Philbo, a Harvard-educated MD brainiac or a real-life "old photographer?" I'll stake my favorite lens on it not being a term for anything used by actual photographers.
Delete... backing slowly away...... :)
Delete:)
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