Attractive pinwheel shape for the grid today, which had the side effect of creating several smaller puzzle areas for this solver. I had the least trouble with the northeast wing and the most trouble with the southwest. There was so much there that I didn't know or that didn't click. The former group included "First foreign-language film to win Best Picture" (
PARASITE) and "Actress/screenwriter Taylor" (
RENEE), and the latter "One of two for a Valkyrie's horse" (
WING), "Endurance test in gym" (
MILERUN) and "Cry on Christmas" - somehow I don't really think of
HOHOHO as a cry. I did immediately consider
GOD for "Mr. High-and-Mighty?" but I thought they wouldn't go there. Shows you what I know.
In the age-old contest between QMC's and non-QMC's, today the win goes to the non-QMC's. Highlights were "Coffee store" (
URN), "Dog that smells a lot" (
BASSETHOUND), and "They graduate quickly" (
DEGREEMILLS).
My favorite was "Diesel often found in a muscle car" (VIN) - LOL.
There are two QMC's, though, that deserve honorable mention: "Make a long-distance call?" (YODEL) and "Group of commuters?" (PAROLEBOARD) - ha!
I liked the expression "Botheration" much better than AWRATS. On the other hand both WENTBANANAS and ROBBLIND were both fun.
In this RELAY we call HAFDTNYTCPFCA, it's time for the exciting Colum Amory leg. Over and out.
~Frannie.
A nice clippy 7:25 for me today - would have been faster had I not entered MAKETHREATS, which caused lots of difficulties in the middle! Lots of fun in this one - kudos to Mr. Bratton..
ReplyDeleteDelightful! My hard spot was the NW. The WEEZER crossing the still-another-"Lil'"-musician-name was tough. (Although the WEEZER lyrics in the clue cracked me up, so that was fun.) Thanks, Frannie!
ReplyDeleteKelly <--@Philbo, 7:25??? GENIUS LEVEL! :-)