Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Tuesday, October 25, 2022, Ashleigh Silveira and Nick Shephard

Today's theme revealer, STEPSUPONESGAME, is to be taken literally. A name of a classic board game appears in each quadrant in circled letters, going diagonally upward, like steps - "Pretty sneaky, sis" to quote a 1981 Connect Four ad. The games are [SCRABBLE], [CHESS], [RISK], and [MONOPOLY], plus maybe a little bonus game mention in the clue for 1A: "It's black on one side and white on the other, in Othello" (DISC). Somehow a game theme seems Perfection for a Tuesday. 

In addition to the diagonal game names, there are some nice long Down answers like the grid-spanning revealer mentioned above, plus DOLAPS (heh), SEESPOTRUN, AFOOT, POPO, ICKIER, and DEPOSITION. It seemed to me, however, that some of the Across ANS lacked afflatus. We have IPOS, ELY, ICU, FOO, along with the brand name of electric toothbrushes, SONICARE. Although, for this solver, the least intelligible C/AP was 58D: "Keydets' sch." (VMI). It was not something ANODE. I was lucky it didn't RUNE my solve.

Other fill gave off a good VIBE. I enjoyed REHASH, SPIKED, GENT, and MOOT. I'm on the fence about SESH ("Meeting, informally"). I like the sound of it, but it seems like a pointless shortening. 

17A: CAEN

But, enough about my word preferences. My C/AP preferences are as follows: "They're hard to get out of" (RUTS), "Loss leader?" (ELL), the amusing "Holy Grail" reference (I assume), TIS "but a scratch!" and my favorite today "Inner ear?" (COB) - ha!

~Frannie.

1 comment:

  1. COB was great, and were it not for the question mark, I'd have been more perplexed. I'll never, however, say POPO, even though I'm so accustomed to it in grids by now it's a normal part of my solving vocabulary (as are many other words that I'd use only in grids or INABOX, as it were). Enjoyable bunching of Bs over in the NW with crosses of SNOBBY, YABBA and [SCRABBLE], and of Os in the SE with OOPSIE, FOO and WOOING. Too bad that [WOOPLD] isn't a game. Nice theme and fun solve overall.

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