Thursday, February 17, 2022, Aaron M. Rosenberg

I, Frannie, enjoyed this puzzle. The theme, which takes as a setting a dinner party whose host is a scientist with a new shrink ray that she uses for each course of the meal, was very entertaining. The results of the shrink ray zapping are all common phrases that start with diminutive words and work very well with the shrunken dinner party setup. During the cocktail hour (as I like to imagine it), the shrink ray turns the punch ladle into a LITTLEDIPPER. The potato wedge appetizers became SMALLFRIES. My favorite was, unsurprisingly, the dessert course: "When the dessert was brought out, [ZAP!] the pudding cake turned into a ..." MERETRIFLE. Delish!

I credit my affection for the movie "Auntie Mame" for my initial entry of 'heaD' for "It's a bust" (56D). ("A divine man..but OH, what he did to my bust!......that's the head you know.") The correct answer was RAID. Cleverer individuals may tut tut, but I have to admit that I had a little trouble remembering the name of the "King of the Egyptian gods" AMONRA, although I was eventually able to dig it up. Thanks to my predilection for British shows, I had no trouble with NAN ("Mum's mum") or "Boris Johnson, e.g." - although I confess a few other choice four letter options ran through my mind before I entered TORY. :)

 "Hostile state" for ENMITY was nice, as was "Principal" for ARCH. I also enjoyed the "Monster Mash" and ICLAUDIUS references, both of which HAIL from my youth.

That's it for today's review. I have bigger fish to fry. :)

~Frannie.