STACKING UP
Is it me, or is this grid incredibly wide-open? I nearly yelled an OATH (Legal profession?) (excellent clue) when I opened it up today. It looks like a super-sized Saturday puzzle. It is themeless, as far as I can tell, and I'm guessing that the title refers to the staggered answer stacks in the center (!) and the four corners.
OK, I just checked and this is a record for fewest answers in a Sunday puzzle! There are 120 answers in this one, and the usual Sunday has 140 or so. So congratulations, you two!
It certainly played more like a Saturday than a Sunday for me. Things like OTIOSE (Useless) (I think of it more as KILLINGTIME, but I think that might be more what it was in Latin), CONCRETEISLAND (J.G. Ballard dystopia about a man stranded between motorways) (Yikes!), and COIMBRA (Portuguese city with a historic university founded in 1290) slowed things down. Oh, and PASSACAGLIA (Italian dance from the Spanish for "walk in the street"). And I had not heard the term NEOPRONOUNS (They don't express gender), but I'm glad to learn it now.
Some really nice clues included "Like Plan B, for short" (OTC) (I didn't notice the capitals, and had "alt" in there for far too long), "It may give a bowler a hook" (HATTREE), "After-school activities one wouldn't list on a college app" (DETENTIONS), "Guide outside a bus station, often" (CITYMAP), and "Where many people walk out?" (GAYPRIDEPARADE).
This week really couldn't have been better. I love the rare Sunday themeless, the Turn was great, and really, the whole week was good. Tomorrow Frannie takes the reins again, and I'll see you in a few.
Ciao!
- Horace
Maybe this is why I don't like Saturday usually? But I did make it to the end, and did very much like the OATH clue and a few others. NEOPRONOUN was right in my wheelhouse (although I guess "they" is more common these days), and I also loved the clue "Where many people walk out" with the tricksy meaning of "out". Also loved the clue for OPERAS (I had only heard of Rent so I was trying to figure out what kind of rebus would make La Boheme fit until it became clear that wasn't it).
ReplyDeleteThanks for the week, Horace!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing Sunday puzzle! Challenging and enjoyable from my point of view. I wish I had known that about PASSACAGLIA. To me, it has the Baroque connotation of a set of variations above a repeated and unvarying bass line. For a modern version, see the passacaglia in the Sea Interludes from Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes.
ReplyDeleteThis was pretty difficult, but satisfying to finish. I had not heard of a DEMI cup bra, nor OTIOSE, nor ARGOTS, nor Lake TANA, nor NIA, nor OTC for Plan B, nor had I ever heard anyone say DOMEASOLID.
ReplyDeleteWe enjoyed LAIT as the base for fromage. Also liked CONCURRENCE, NIAGARARIVER, and PREPARATIVE. and BOHRATOM! What chemist doesn't love Neils and his use of orbits to explain atomic line spectra, which are as unique as fingerprints for each ELEMENT? It's clear that we've avoided IHOP for tootyfrooty long, or is it ROOTYTOOTY? SPAREUS the details of their menu items. Oh, and it took us forever to find that HATTREE. We completely forgot about Magritte's bowler hats while we struggled to figure out why the ball curved ... warped alley? crooked tree? whatevah... And HEADSPRING? Is that a thing? Probably not while navigating those SUPERGS. Let's EASEINto Monday, shall we?