It's nice when you get a gimme in the early portion of a themeless. For me, this was the David Bowie song LIFEONMARS. A great song, with a one of a kind first line.
Thank goodness, because AVLAB did not come to me until I was finally filled in all of VERMONSTER.
At the same time, I'm beginning to feel that the Friday clues aren't hard enough. I'll grant you that after doing every puzzle daily for the last 8 years, perhaps it's just that I'm used to things, but getting 2D: Actress Knightley (nobody else but KEIRA in the world that fits that) or even more simple, 9D: Director Welles (ORSON), I feel I'm not being challenged enough.
But I'm not really complaining too much, because this puzzle is really NOTTOOSHABBY. Look at the other lovely long down answer, LOOSEYGOOSEY. And the pair of long answers in each corner are pretty darned good. I love SPACEBALLS and ALGALBLOOM. And BACKRONYM is an outstanding word, one I'd never come across before. It's where a word is used and then turned into an acronym after the fact.
I also love TOOTALL Ed Jones.
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| MIRO |
Some other clues I liked:
47A: Squares, e.g. (RHOMBI). Very true, but I was not thinking along those lines (see what I did there?).
38D: That's the point! (TIP). It is indeed.
Don't love SORER, or TINT for "Stain," and 62A: Apt (SEEMLY) seems a little inapt (inapt!).
But I'll just say NOE big deal and move on. Looking forward to tomorrow! 7:03.
- Colum
Not too far off you, with a 10:29, and I started with that same Bowie gimme. Well, I started with "néé" at 1A, but changed it to AKA when the, as you say, obvious KEIRA forced my hand. Speaking of obvious - "Partner of Stiller" wasn't all that challenging for this old person, either. Still, as you say, lots of good entries all the same. And yeah, I remember laughing really hard during SPACEBALLS. Heh.
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