Saturday, August 7, 2021

Saturday, August 7, 2021, Adam Aaronson

Eight and a half hours of car drive later...

Sometimes you have to fight through a puzzle, right? The height of enjoyment comes from the hard work and the aha moments. 

Okay, I've run out of _GHT words not used in the puzzle. It's sort of a slightly themed themeless (gotcha!). I count 13 entries which use that combination of letters, with 2 others which use only _GH. My favorite entry was 32A: Grand total? (EIGHTYEIGHT), referring to the total number of keys on a grand piano. Another one of those clues whose referent is the answer comes at 24D: Would you look at that! (SIGHT).

There were a number of tough clues today, including 1A: Brings home (BATSIN) - I didn't think of baseball at all for this one. 3D: Gets to the point? (TAPERS) is nicely precise. 

20A: Who had a major part in the Torah? (MOSES) is very clever - the moment when he breaks the ten commandments comes in Exodus 32:19, a chapter in one of the books included in the Torah. On the other hand, it would also be true without the question mark, which is odd. The cleverness only comes into play because it's brought to our attention. Hmmm. I have to think about this.

SYDNEY's bridge

34D: Bed cover (MULCH) escaped us for a long time. I really wanted dUvet, but dONETS just wasn't going to work. The other really clever clue came at 38D: Passage that connects stories (SKYWAY) - not narrative stories, but stories of buildings.

52A does not bear thinking too closely about.

ANYHOO, it's time to pass off the baton to Horace for another week of reviews. Hope you had fun this week - I know I did! 9:37.

- Colum


1 comment:

  1. Most of us had less fun, beaches and waves not being a factor :) Speaking of fun, this xword certainly was, and it was super neat how the GHTs just kept on revealing themselves. Was in the zone. 8:13

    ReplyDelete