Thursday, January 27, 2022, Lewis Rothlein and Jeff Chen

The tenor of this solve was quite different from yesterday's: unlike my esteemed co-bloggers Horace and Colum, I have no musical knowledge to sustenuto myself in these situations. I did recognize that the symbols in today's grid related to music, but I didn't know exactly what they meant. I thought I had it figured out with NOWH:EREW:E [NOWWHEREWEREWE] but on further examination I found I didn't have the right key and had to moderato my approach. Imagine the trill when I finally did figure it out with RO:MATO:ES (or ROMATOMATOES)! To be more expressivo, the trick is to REPEAT the letters within the marks to produce the whole ensemble. 

As it happens, the motif wasn't the most difficult partita for me. I hit some serious ritardando in the northeast corner thanks to the quartet of tricky clues "Round houses?" (PUBS), "It can be a show-stopper" (REMOTE), "It's measured in feet, not inches" (POEM - another of my weak spots!) , and the surprising UNDOSEND for "Action after a change of mind." I was a little confused by TAR for "Gob" but I looked it up and lo and behold, both can mean "one who operates or navigates a sea going vessel" - major surprise! I also had a little trouble with the answer to "Certain amenities for first-class passengers." Who knew they had arm *and* LEGRESTS? Humoresque, non? :)  

Other high notes included the clue "Preceder of ski or midi" for APRES, "Some long-term plans, in brief" (IRAS), and "Something well-placed?" for OILRIG.

In sum, nowhere near prestissimo today, but con brio.

~Frannie.