Today the clue "Very beginning?" didn't fool me, as those types of clues usually do (VEE). On the other hand, the hidden capital in "Progressive people?" did fool me for quite some time (AGENTS). I enjoyed the points of interest about EAGLE eyes and the fact that LEOTARD is an eponym. Who knew?
Although I don't really like the word BOOBOO, I thought its clue "Slip" and the later clue "Slipped" (ERRED) were a nice pair. The answers ENFOLD in the northwest and ENLACE in the southeast make a nice pairing as well - not to mention that ADDS crosses ADS at the S. Fill-wise, I enjoyed BEACON, BOON, OLDSALT, and especially WAG.
There were two clues that needed a little extra mental bandwidth from this solver. For the life of me, I couldn't make sense of "Basket made from behind the arc" (67A). Fortunately, the Downs made it possible for me to get TREY. Only when the answer was complete did I realize it referred to basketball. Derp. I also had a bit of trouble with OUTACT thanks to the tricky use of "best" in the clue ("Best in a film audition, say"). It's the amplitude and frequency of such clever clues that makes solving crossword puzzles so much fun. :)
~Frannie.
Fun puzzle. Made me think of WJIB and it's FM companion (and also reminded me to send in the dsrn contribution!). I also did not know about Monsieur LEOTARD! But now I do because I looked him up...he's the guy they wrote that song about the "daring young man on the flying trapeze!" I liked the clue for YOGA MAT a lot.
ReplyDeleteI've got to send in my donation too! I will write the check today. :)
DeleteInteresting trivia on LEOTARD, Kelly! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteOne clue "Sound a biker doesn't want to hear" (SSS) was a little funny, but also sad, because in the shed right now is a fancy Dutch bike with a flat rear tire. It's a new bike and I've never taken off the rear wheel. I can't decide whether I should read up on how to do it (with the chain guard, the disc brakes, and the fancy continuously variable transmission-like gearing) or just bring it to the shop. Sigh.
Obviously, you should bring it to the shop, Horace. I stopped the clock right away when I finished the puzzle and didn't get the congratulatory pencil. I'd filled in [AMFM] in the rebus squares, and when I didn't get congratulated, tried [FMAM], which also didn't work. Then I asked the Across Lite thing to "reveal" one of the squares, and it wanted [AM], which I'd never have guessed. I wasn't INAPANIC since I'd shut the clock off at 18:13. Fun puzzle, with the old-school SOLTI, which I was able to fill in off of the "I," crossing WOL[FM]AN, also old-school.
ReplyDeleteAgree AND disagree! Re. bike - strongly recommend you learn how to get that rear wheel off yourself; one of these days you might need to in an emergency. Plus, it's fun if you don't mind a little fiddling around and also getting grease on your fingers :) Now to the crossword - Huygens - I found myself in absolutely the same boat, Rebus'ing in 'AMFM' on all those squares, getting the 'something's awry' message and hunting all over the grid for the typo I thought I'd made before giving up and hitting Reveal. 9:52 at that point, but oh well. Still feel like I'm getting the hang of this Rebus thing.
DeleteI think I entered it as "AM/FM" in the online version, which worked.
DeleteAnd about the wheel - I've changed tires and tubes all my life, Philbo, but this new bike is a totally different animal. I agree, though, that I should just pull up my big-boy pants and get to it. Bike shops are almost always annoying.