Had a few moments, so I decided to do tomorrow's puzzle tonight, and throw the review on a day early. Why not?
Mr. Larson has decided to honor four women who have been nicknamed "The QUEEN of..." various musical genres. I love the consistency of the concept, from DONNASUMMER, Queen of Disco, to ARETHAFRANKLIN, Queen of Soul, to ELLAFITZGERALD, Queen of Jazz, and finally LORETTALYNN, Queen of Country. It's beautiful to see all four names in their entirety, and remarkable that they fit symmetrically in the grid. Of course Ella is my favorite, followed by Aretha, then Loretta, then Donna.
Who would be the Queen of OPERA? Maria Callas? I'm partial to Renée Fleming myself, and also like Cecilia Bartoli. Thoughts?
My favorite clue was 11D: Good name for a postseason football game sponsored by General Mills? (CEREALBOWL). Hah! Fun stuff for a Monday.
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| The mascot for the hypothetical game |
Other answers I liked included FRITZ and STYX. Fun Scrabble letters there. And while I'm no huge fan of either AMMO or CAMO, I liked that they were next to each other in the grid.
Fun start to the week. 2:59.
- Colum
You'll have to settle on either Maria Callas or Cecelia Bartoli, either of those two would slot into this grid perfectly. Renee Fleming is either too long or too short.
ReplyDeleteYes, CEREALBOWL was great. I FWOEd on WARIO. Gotta play more video games, I guess...
I did this one last night as well - smooth sailing in 2:47 (it's a rare day when I come in under Colum's time :) ) Loved the queenly theme! I came across a clip of Donna Summer recently, from the late '70s - remarkable how energetic the disco era was!
ReplyDeleteColum - hard to argue against the iconic Maria C!
p.s. it's only a matter of time before LASSO starts getting clued differently......
Love this puzzle! Such a simple, yet beautifully executed concept. Terrific. (How 'bout RISE STEVENS?)
ReplyDelete