Happy day after Thanksgiving. I hope you are enjoying leftovers and a day of relaxation. We got to drive back to Albany from NYC, with attendant traffic. Not the most relaxing, but we're home now! The dogs handled the trip just fine (with some medication to assist).
What a fun puzzle today! So many tricky clues. But with my weekend solving hat on, I was able to see through many of them.
We start with 1A: Book of legends (ATLAS). Tough one! Not Guinness, or the Edda, or some other sort of thing. I have never taken PIZZAROLLS, so that one took longer, as did 14A: Funny bones? (LOADEDDICE), but what a wonderful QMC.
We should all be aware of what's going on in IRAN right now. One of my graduated residents is Persian, and his Insta feed is just crammed with reels and pictures from his family's home region. Hard to know if the country's win in the play-in round of the World Cup is good or bad for the situation, but I hope it raises awareness.
 |
| Definitely looks more like a squirrel |
I love the two long down answers IDONTWANNA and IGOTNOTHIN. Such great colloquialisms.
26D: London has a "Royal" one (OPERAHOUSE) is pretty open to a number of possibilities. The Ballet, The Academy, the Albert Hall, all are prefixed with "Royal." 27D: Performer whose face is rarely seen (BODYDOUBLE) is a great non-QMC. 28A: Port authorities? (WINESNOBS) - well, I guess I'm hardly an authority on port, but I do like it, and I'm definitely no snob. And finally, 30D: Late assignment (NIGHTSHIFT) is another great non-QMC.
With MARISA Tomei, IANFLEMING, and SUSIEQ, it's a fun grid.
Looking forward to tomorrow's end to The Turn!
- Colum
This one flew right by as I was directly in tune with the constructor; it took me just over thirteen minutes (tomorrow's (Saturday) was even faster for me, which is unusual). The cluing, as Colum mentions, is stellar. Really inventive and impressive. LOADEDDICE has to be the best ("Rat cat alley, roll them bones. Need that cash to feed that jones."). I've had PIZZAROLLS, but they're definitely not my thing, and now that I'm a bit older, they, like donuts, are not worth the calories, and I'll more-than-likely never have one again. MSOLYMPIA is not a competition of which I was previously aware. And I, too, am a big fan of Port, but decidedly not one of the WINESNOBS. When out to eat, that is one of my favorite desserts.
ReplyDelete