Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Wednesday, June 8, 2022, Bruce Haight

Well, come on now, Dr. Haight. Now you're just playing for plaudits. You should know by now that the reviewers on this humble blog are suckers for puns. And you gave us five!

Take a simple phrase where one of the words ends in -ET, add an H to the end, and reparse it as a Shakespearean past participle. Clue in a silly way, and you've won us over.

By far my favorite of the theme answers is 24A: Citizenry doth work hard? (PUBLICTOILETH). That's so perfect. I bow before thee. 

FADDIETH is cute, and MARKETHPLACES works well. PICKETHLINES and MODELROCKETH are both also solid examples. Strong work today.

ELOISE

There are a plethora of fun clues and answers today as well. A smattering listed here:

31D: They may leave a lengthy paper trail (LITTERBUGS) - great non-QMC.

34A: Locale for drawers in the study? (ARTSCHOOL) - wow! Talk about torturing the sentence for a good cause!

42A: They may be close to reception (HOTELBARS) - and so might we be, TBH.

29A: Upstage, say (ECLIPSE). Great definition and fun word.

13D: Setter fetter (LEASH) - I did a double take at the clue, and then nodded.

4D: Months long couples retreat? (ARK). Holy Noah, Dr. Haight! You've gone off the deep end.

All right. This one's a win all around in my book.

- Colum

6 comments:

  1. Funeth! Loved every clue except for the one for Elaine CHAO. I mean. Come on. [Buttigieg's predecessor] could've avoided That Horrible Name just as well, but to clue her to work done almost two decades ago? Enough. But the puzzle cracked me up!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I LOLethed throughout. PUBLICTOILETH was probably my favorite, too - I'm laughing again - but FADDIETH and PICKETHLINES are also very good. They work on so many levels! I also enjoyed the QMCs "Short break?" (VACAY) and "Day and night?" (AMPM). And how about "Rash sensation" (ITCH)? Entertainingly apt! PROWL and HEXES were fun fill. So many LOLLS! :) ~Frannie.

    ReplyDelete
  3. All this squabbling over the right clue for CHAO has brought out the contrarian in me. I say it should have been "Commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission in 1988"

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hilarieth. I LOL'd several times during the solve. So very good.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Colum,
    Good to know that toilet puns are not going to offend you guys one bit :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Never! Count me in as one who particularly enjoys a toilet bit of humor.

      Delete