I'm guessing some of our speedier solvers might have sliced through the puzzle in near-record time today. I don't mean to make it into a SLAMDUNKCONTEST, but I finished in just over seven minutes, which is a pretty a CRISP Friday time for me, and I thought that was NEATO!
But enough about that. This one is stocked with six grid-spanners. My favorite might have been COLLECTORSITEMS (Rare comics and vintage dolls, e.g.), because I find myself getting a bit too interested in certain old things. I've already got way too much stuff, but still I want more. Why? Why are we interested in finding HENSTEETH? Is it because it makes us feel like we are slowing the inevitable oblivion? We all end up with NOBARS eventually. It's BLEAK, so we clutch EVER tighter to bygone AGES, and look to things with the ECLAT of MICA to feather our NESTS in hopes of being PLACATED.
Sorry. I think this poetry class might be affecting me. (Now who's being "Pretentiously creative" (ARTSY)?!) ... Let's go down a different AVENUE, shall we?
What do we think of "Stretches for the rest of us?" (NAPTIMES)? Me, I love this kind of tortured game. "Stretches [of time taken] for [the purpose of] the rest [that is required] of us." Nothing simpler. :)
I also enjoyed the non-QMCs "Play group" for CAST, and "Bill promoting science" (NYE). Very nice. But I'm worried by "Hawaiian crop threatened by the apple snail" (TARO). Will I never be able to taste the crossword delicacy poi?!
And speaking of food, it's interesting that "English chip" could be either CRISP or "French fry," but, of course, only one fit comfortably into the five squares.
OK, I think that's probably enough for now.
- Horace