It's either "Ah me," or "Oh my." No mixing and matching.
Other than that, the hardest square for me was the D of DENS (Studies) and DINESH (Kumail Nanjiani's role on "Silicon Valley"). I guessed kENS for Studies, but that wasn't exactly right and I knew it. Kind of like the editor must have felt about OHME. Too soon?
CREATESAMONSTER (Isn't able to control the outcome of one's actions) is a good one, and "Question asked without reservation" is a cute clue for ISTHISSEATTAKEN. But "Moves from 9 to 5, say" (DIALSITBACK) is trying a little too hard.
Did you all think of Frannie and me when you got to "The Bastille and the Tower of London, historically" (PRISONS). Have I mentioned that we're in Paris, and staying near the former site of the Bastille? :) BTW, Carmen was very good. Turns out there's some real catchy tunes in there.
We know it's a Saturday puzzle because we have CETE (Pride : lions :: ____ : badgers) in the grid. Other unfortunate fill includes INI, INA, and IMO. But SOCKEYE (Salmon variety) was good, and it took a while for "Erroneous answer to 'What are the odds?'" (EVENS) to sink in, but now I think it's hilarious. As if someone asked you to recite the odd numbers and you said the even ones. Weird, but funny.
Well, it's been fun blogging from Paris, but Colum takes over tomorrow, and we're going to spend our last few days here with one less responsibility. A bientôt!
- Horace
I thought of you and Frannie with the Bastille clue, and was wondering how you enjoyed "Carmen," and was glad to hear that you liked it. I really tore through this puzzle in under sixteen minutes. The OHME entry was the iffiest for me, but the crosses ended up cementing it. CETE was unknown to me, and will continue to be, and I agree about the unfortunateness of that and of the other answers you mentioned. I enjoyed ATONEWITHNATURE (it looks like "atone with" if one parses it differently) and seeing MOUSEKETEER in there, although with the latter, I'm feeling a little like other GEEZERS because I associate that with Annette Funicello more than with the two mentioned. As people know, I also enjoy many MEATALTERNATIVEs, tofu among them, which I have once per week, on Wednesdays if you must know.
ReplyDeleteSome really nice entries and clues...I particularly liked "It's sometimes weather-related" for SMALL TALK. Fun puzzle.
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