Oof - this was a tough and fun Friday themeless! I found it harder than most Saturdays, but as they used to say on the old online bulletin boards, YMMV.
How perfect is the clue and answer at 1A: Puzzling start? (ACROSS)? I was quite amused when it finally became clear, which by the way, was at the very end of my solve. I had little hope in the NW, and really only broke in after working my way through all the way to the SE.
And yes, it was that classic crosswordese EKE that allowed real entry. I had a couple of clues entered tentatively before, but that K gave me OAKLAND, and then the old REESES tagline worked, leading to KANSAS and STANDS. I could not see 37A: Some sneaks (NIKES) at all, and so bombed out, and moved to the SW corner.
Thank goodness for Neurology! ODOR and BROCA were gimmes for me, leading to SNORES and NEWDAY. GUESSWHO fell next, and then I finally had some foothold in the double offset triple stacks of 11-letter answers.
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| CELERIAC |
The first one I got was BARGINGINON (based off of the last two letters). That's a good answer. PICODEGALLO was next, and everybody loves that sauce (INSOLENTLY? Too soon?). With the crosses, I was able to see SUREFIREHIT, and then GARAGEDOORS, which took way too long. I so wanted that to be something about drones.
I love BORNTOOLATE, and its clue. That's fun stuff. COUNTERACTS was my last get, and the least interesting of the six.
Other fun entries include YEAHNO, which will always remind me in a different way of W1C, the crazy BBC comedy about working at the BBC. I don't usually take OMELETBARS, preferring standard scrambled eggs when cooked for me (not precooked in a container, like we usually see at breakfast buffets).
Good hard puzzle, IMO.
- Colum
Is *that* what OMELET BARS are? I had no idea. Thanks! I really enjoyed this puzzle, for the reasons you cite, Colum.
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