What a lovely start to my vacation, a Robyn Weintraub Friday puzzle!
She's opened up her BAGOFTRICKS and filled the grid with fun and games. Right of the bat we get ATARI (Breakout company of the 1970s) ("Breakout," the game), and next comes the great combo of 7D: "Where a town in Wyoming was once sold (for $900,000)" (EBAY) and 6A: "What 7-Down is pig Latin for" (BEE). Hilarious.
There's a nice little theme of drinks and parties, including ICE (Something can't be neat if you add this), DRAM (1/8 oz.), ANIS (French liqueur flavoring), THEDRINKSAREONEME, TOGAPARTIES (Fun times between the sheets?), and PINATAS (They're broken just for fun).
I love the clever, misleading clues like "Area around the mouth" (DELTA), "Liquid weapon, or a solid one" (MACE), "Lead-in to a street name, perhaps (AKA) (really lovely), and "Hall of fame collaborator?" (OATES). That last one is a real stretch, but I still enjoyed it.
My recent Greek lessons in DuoLingo paid off with "It's written as a vertical line bisecting a circle" (PHI), my earlier lessons in Dutch made BOER (Dutch for "farmer") a snap, but my eight or so years of French did nothing to help with the 1970 #5 hit (Ma Belle AMIE) until I had a cross or two.
And how about "Sound of an unsuccessful attempt at stone skimming" (PLOP)?! Hah!
I loved all of it. Thanks, Ms. Weintraub. :)
- Horace
ET59 here. Yes, this was a relatively easy Friday but an absolute delight, indeed. You spotlighted most of the gems. I also loved the clue for BICEP and the rare cryptic spin for ELI.
ReplyDeletePLOP and APRIL FOOLS were my first answers because I've never been able to skip stones successfully and am totally immature on April Fool's Day. The PIES clue made me wince, but otherwise, good, fun puzzle.
ReplyDelete