Well, well, well. Another week of blogging come and gone. I'd like to thank my good friends Horace and Frannie for taking a chance on an unknown crossword enthusiast, and my wife for her unstinting support during these tough weeks when I'm glued to the puzzle for nearly a sixth of an hour, before writing pointless but hopefully humorous prose about the solve.
But seriously, I'm happy to report another fun Saturday themeless by Ms. Brandes. This is her second published puzzle in the NYT, the last also being a themeless on a Friday. There are only four notably long entries today (being greater than ten letters), which means very chunky corners in order to rectify the word count. I don't love it when corners are partitioned off, as in the NW and SE. There are only single letter entrances at two locations. But today, they played well anyway.
I'd never heard of DORISMILLER - having read xwordinfo.com just now, I find that he was a Black man whose heroism in Pearl Harbor saved many lives. Glad to hear that he is finally being recognized.
The other three long answers are very nice. I have never and never will relate to 33A: Ate the last cookie, say (COULDNTRESIST). My willpower is legendary. The clue for 47A: Like mysterious matters, often ... or hotels (CHECKEDINTO) is fun, and 15D: Canned lines? EXITINTERVIEW is a very nice QMC.
Other clues I enjoyed included:
30A: Accords, e.g. (SEDANS) - nice hidden capital.
56A: Place to get a cab (WINERACK).
50D: Something you might watch with your parents (TONE). Many years ago we watched "The Kids Are All Right" with our two daughters. Full frontal nudity. Problems. I think nobody was scarred permanently.
39D: Posers are forever saying it (CHEESE).
And what do people think about 39A: What's the big deal? (CARDS). I get that we're talking about cards being dealt, but how does the word "big" fit in?
I believe Frannie is taking over tomorrow. I had fun!
- Colum
Beautiful puzzle. Loved the entries, enjoyed the clues, enjoyed your write-up, Colum -- thank you!
ReplyDelete"Nearly a sixth of an hour"... Hah! Nice. This one took me just over a quarter of an hour, but I think Frannie was down closer to your time.
ReplyDeleteI liked the sting of ONLYONCE (How a first date is experienced), and EXITINTERVIEW, as you noted, was excellent.
Agreed all around. This was a lovely Saturday.
And thanks for joining our little ragtag team of reviewers, Colum. :)