ORDERING SECONDS
Interesting anagramming going on in the theme answers today. Each one is a valid entry as it is, but the second word in each has to be re-ordered to make the clue work. For instance MOVIETROPES is clued with "Bit of cinema décor," and if you anagram "tropes" into "poster" it makes sense. The hardest one for me, amusingly, was MENTALLAPSE (Advances in a baby's cognitive development), which had to be anagrammed to "mental leaps."
Was it just me, or did it seem like there were a lot of -Y words today. MIRY, BULGY, DITSY, GLITCHY, TAFFY, WOODY. Not a complaint, mind you, just an observation.
I loved "March madness figure?" for HARE (Alice in Wonderland reference). "It has cameras set up around the House" (CSPAN) and "Quickly join hands?" (CLAP) were both strong, and "Blind sight" (SLAT) shows a fun appreciation for language. But me, I'd ban Will Smith from the puzzle for ten years, too, even if it means leaving out answers like JADEN.
Some mythological entries - EYGYPTIAN (Like Hathor, goddess of motherhood), HERA (Female figure in the "Iliad"), ARES (God with a helmet), AESIR (Norse pantheon), and CRETE (Birthplace of Zeus), and a smattering of names - ADRIANA (Supermodel Lima), EMILE (Novelist Zola), OSSIE (Actor/activist Davis), IRINA (The third of Chekhov's "Three Sisters") - might have required crosses for some, but nothing seemed unfair.
I really enjoyed this one.
- Horace
Susan from HQT here. I think you're persuading me to try the puzzle for the first time in years. And today's edition sounds spookily apt for me right now because of the anagrammish bits and the mythical bits (I'm watching the TV series Stargate SG-1 for the first time and it's full of ridiculous potted mythological allusions). By the way, do you know this blog: https://www.fifteensquared.net/2022/04/10/everyman-3938-3-april/ That's the one I go to when I can't figure out my puzzle's clues (which is often!) Hello to Frances!
ReplyDeleteHi Susan! Thanks for stopping by. And no, I didn't know about that site, but it is comforting to know that there's a place for de-cryptifying cryptics! :)
DeleteMy eyebrows were raised the furthest on MIRY.
ReplyDeleteThe bit that took me the longest was that either MPG or MPh could go on a dash and although hAZES didn't really make sense with the clue, it took me a while to think of GAZES.
My favourite was HARE! Great misdirection.
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