To tell the truth, this time through the Tuesday Times trickery took three ticks timing-wise to top the time this thinker took...
Um, yesterday.
Damn. It's hard to write with only words that start with T!
The puzzle is a cute one and quite odd for a Tuesday. The grid art gives away the theme: all of the black squares are in the shape of Ts. And 13A, 15A, 29A, 35A, 56A, and 57A are all two word phrases where both words start with the letter T. TOPTHIS indeed! It's a real TREASURETROVE of TT answers.
I had no idea what was going on until I completed the puzzle. I wondered when I entered SARTORIAL and had 15D: This is what a tailor seeks to provide (THEPERFECTFIT), but it was just a little mini-theme moment.
The corners are pleasingly chunky, especially for a Tuesday offering. I noted a few entries I could do without, such as partial ENTR and crosswordese ATRA, but really it's quite smooth. I like having both SHAFTS and TROUNCE in the same puzzle. Also, EDAMAME and COCONUT are fun things to have. I could do without VOTERID, to be sure. But it did not SMOTE me as unfair.
Personally, I'd rather take a BIER than HOTCOFFEE, but your mileage may vary.
- Colum
What an adorable puzzle! Such a smooth solve, such a (deceptively) simple idea...and the clues didn't seem one bit forced. In fact, it wasn't until I finished that I realized they all started with T!
ReplyDeleteDang, I missed that part about the clues! Nice pickup.
DeleteNever twigged to the theme. Never! 2:43 today. If I'd stopped and smelled the roses, maybe I would have noticed it. Clever clever! The clue for SWEDEN pleased me. :)
ReplyDelete