For once, I completely missed the note explaining the trick in this puzzle! I guessed "edit" for 1-Across (DRAG & DROP), skipped 5-Across, and then entered ROCK for 10-Across "Genre with a Hall of Fame in Ohio" and thought "That's a little strange, that they should just shorten it like that...". Then, as I often do when I have something at 1-Across and I am not immediately sure of the Across clue directly beneath it, I switch to Down clues. And as soon as I saw the "[See notepad]" with 1-Across highlighted, I understood what was going on and went back to enter ROLL at 10-Down, and STARS & STRIPES at 5 Across and Down.
I like to think if this had run tomorrow, they'd just have had "-" in the Down clues and no note, and I'm glad that's essentially the way I experienced it, but I guess up until Wednesday the puzzles are meant to draw in newer solvers, and the puzzles after that are meant to challenge more experienced ones. And that's fine.
The trick popped up everywhere that an Across and Down started on the same square, which was nice. And it might have contributed to a slightly odd looking array of black squares - to maybe avoid too many such situations. They're all solid two-word expressions, though, so I have no complaints on the theme.
In the fill, I thought TOMATORED and TVGUEST were a little arbitrary. And maybe ACESOUT is also in that category. I don't watch much tennis, so maybe that's a common expression, I don't know.
POTATO (First vegetable grown in space) provides a nice bit of trivia, and FORCE (Mass x acceleration, in physics) ties in nicely with the science-y books I've been reading lately - "How the Universe Got Its Spots" by Janna Levin, and "Chaos" by James Gleick.
Also, vanilla MALTS are one of my favorite things ever.
A little trick on a Wednesday is always welcome. So far, so good this week. Onward to the Turn!
- Horace
I found this fun! Pleasantly challenging for a Wednesday (6:26). What's the difference between a MALT and a MILKSHAKE?
ReplyDeleteFirst, I feel I should make note of the rare event of me finishing in less time than you (5:40), and second, and much more importantly, a malted has malted milk powder added into it, which greatly affects the taste. And lets not even get into the differences between a milkshake and a frappe... :)
DeleteWhee! A fun time for me, too! And Horace, TOMATO RED is a thing. I know this because right now I'm wearing a pair of jeans I bought online just because I loved the color name TOMATO RED. 'Course right now I've got a sudden urge for a frappe (which, Philbo, is what Massachusetts folk call a milkshake). :-)
ReplyDeleteJeans or dungarees? Either way, I like the idea of TOMATORED pants! :)
DeleteSo the difference between a milkshake and a frappe has to do with whether it is prepared in Massachusetts?
ReplyDeleteOr any New England state, or so Wikipedia tells me. "Frappe: a milkshake with ice cream in New England."
DeleteFine. And now to a crucial question - how do you pronounce FRAPPE? Is it like FRAP, or FRAPE, or FRAP-EH? (Or something else)
DeleteYes, a milkshake has no ice cream, a frappe does.
DeleteAnd it's "frap."
OK now, here, up in Canuck Land, a milkshake isn't a milkshake unless it contains ice cream, and Hard ice cream at that. And it's FRAP-EH!!! That last E has an accent aigu in these parts...
DeleteSo Philbo, is there a difference up there between a milkshake and a "frappay?"
DeleteWell - I only ever knew "frappE" as a boozy drink with shaved ice. It's a whole different world up here!!
DeleteWeird.
Delete