I should have known better than to brag about my time yesterday... Today's speedy solve time, by contrast, was 35:13. And I thought for a while that I might never finish!
It was the NE that sat unfilled for so long. I should have known EOLITHIC (Period at the beginning of the Stone Age) (eos (dawn) + lithic (stone-related)), especially after my geologic scolding yesterday, but - sorry Dad - I couldn't come up with it until I had a few crosses. And the 2019 rap song, Mandrake the Magician's sidekick (who?), and the Modern protest movement were not giving me any of those crosses! Sheesh! I think I finally realized that "Back on board" wanted AFT, and then from the recesses of my mind I guessed at ANTIFA, then got ALONE (Set apart), which gave REACTS (Jerks, say), which finally gave EOLITHIC, which gave the excellent MAGI (They're known for their holiday gifts), and the rest, as they say...
But we love a challenge. The whole thing, really, played like a tough Saturday for me. CHIRASHI (Japanese dish of raw fish and vegetables over rice) is not known to me (although I'd love to try it!), RAPINOE (Golden Ball winner in 2019's Women's World Cup) is a name I've heard, but it wasn't on the tip of my tongue. CHIOMEGA (Largest college sorority by enrollment (380,000+ members) was a guess based on the Greek alphabet. I actually had phi at the start for a bit.
But there were plenty of good, clever answers, too. "Beat reporting?" for HEARTRATE was great, INDIAPERS (Untrained, perhaps) was lovely, "Twist in a story" was a tricky clue for OLIVER, "Rush while racing?" for RUNNERSHIGH was clever, and both clever and amusing (a winning combo) was "Garments that sound like you'd exercise in them" for PUSHUPBRAS.
In all, an excellent challenge for a Friday.
- Horace
OK now THIS was a superlative puzzle. One satisfying "aha" moment after another! Horace, I had guessed PHI as well, which was a minor setback, but the real trouble for me came with "I, for one". "Aha!" I said, "can't fool me!" and put HALOGEN in. Which led, predictably, to chaos on the entire left side. 9:22 for me, somewhat better than your geologic-ish time Horace :) Worth every second!
ReplyDeleteHah - nice "geologic-ish time" dig. :) My combined time for the first four puzzles this week was 22:30, so I guess it was nice to have a leisurely solve for once, right? At least that's how I'm looking at it.
DeleteNice sub-ten for you. And speaking of - the tournament is live again this year, in early April. We're planning to be there, and would love to see you there.
Oh I would *love* to come! I am so happy I joined the virtual tourney this year, count my lucky stars I randomly chose to join the "table" that I did, and am very much looking forward to meeting you all in person :)
DeleteThis one was definitely tough, ended at around 12:45. Hope helped, and saw MAGI immediately!
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