Yesterday was day one of the 2022 FIFA WORLDCUP, and so today we get a puzzle to celebrate this quadrennial event. There are many reasons to be unhappy about this specific year's event, relating primarily to Qatar's human rights record, particularly with the horrifying details of the workers who built the venues for the games, with many deaths ensuing. Not to mention that FIFA was happy to accept the money from the country in order to approve them getting the tournament.
But this is a blog about a fun activity we all enjoy doing, so let's just pretend they're talking about 2018's World Cup! Oh, wait. That was in Russia. 2014? A little better, in Brazil. Oh, well...
Anyway, we get the revealer at 64A, but more fun, we get the VUVUZELA at 17A, the chant OLEOLEOLEOLEOLE, and everybody's favorite GOOOOOOOOOOOOAL at 48A. Even those 12 Os are not enough to account for the 22 seconds of shouting recorded by one announcer.
The rest of the puzzle is smoothly filled for the most part. I liked that both 39D and 66A are clued with "Requiring rare knowledge" (ESOTERIC and ARCANE).
THEDEETS, EYECONTACT, and THISWONTDO are fun long answers.
Best clue was 21A: Having a thermal exhaust port lead straight to the reactor of your Death Star, e.g. (FLAW). Understatement of the year.
- Colum
Even though I lean more toward "Star Trek," I, too, loved the Death Star clue and it's understated answer. I generally don't take a World Cup, but when we were in Rome a few years ago (2012), it was nice that Italy won against Germany as we got to witness some unrestrained celebrating on the streets from the safety of our rooftop bar. We'd have been happy either way since I am of Italian descent and Sue is of German, but the locals were definitely more jubilant with that outcome.
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