It's a strange puzzle today. There are circles appearing in seven squares, all positioned in an upper-right corner. They are double-checked in that they are used in the Down answers, and together, in order from left to right and top to bottom, they spell out the word "corners," but they are ignored in the Across answers, which need to make a turn at those corners and use all but the circled letter in the Down answer to answer their own clues. Still, the circled letters, if added to the first part of the Across answers, make a word, which is a nice touch.
Why should it be that this is so? We find that out with the littlest revealer I have ever seen - CUT (With the circled letters, a hint to solving seven Across clues). And now it all comes clear - we need to cut corners in order to make those Across answers work! While solving, I filled in the revealer without ever reading the clue, and if I weren't writing the reviews this week, I might never have understood it. So... yay?
Was there a meta-theme within the theme? The first Across answer is ANTI_AGING, and I feel like that somehow relates to the old-timey HOME_EC, DON_KING, and LIVE_AID answers. :)
Really, it's a nice theme, now that I understand it. And in non-theme, we have the lovely RHAPSODIC (Extravagantly emotional) up top, and the fun CANOODLED (Engaged in some amorous behavior) below. SALLOW (Opposite of ruddy) is a ten-cent word, BEDHOGS (Ones always taking cover?) was fun, and it's always nice to think of various MILNE characters.
Overall, a solid start to the Turn.
- Horace
I didn't get the theme either until after the solve...then I was delighted!
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