Friday, December 2, 2022

Friday, December 2, 2022, Scott Earl

Was MONSTERMASH (1962 #1 hit that the BBC once deemed "too morbid" to play) in the puzzle around Halloween? I think it may have been, but I don't really recall. Anyway, I liked it as a starting answer today. Under that, I really wanted "the royal we," but EDITORIALWE (First person plural?) will have to do. It's certainly not an offense worthy of a LIFETIMEBAN (Highest bar?) (nice).

HENSON

In the SE, we've got MINDREADERS (They know what you're thinking), PHOTOCREDIT (What a camera emoji in an Instagram caption often signifies) (how quaint, they're crediting photographers), and the answer that gave me a FWOE, RECENCYBIAS (Inclination to prioritize new events over historical ones). I kept thinking of the "banks" in "Banks who coined the term 'smizing'" as actual money lenders, and so I didn't see that it needed to be TYRA, and honestly, I can't remember what was going on with RECENCYBIAS, but it wasn't a term I knew. Sigh. I think my problem might be that I have a "long-ago bias." 

Nice repeated "Swell!" clue for NIFTY and NEATO, and I enjoyed "Something that's dropped after it's finished" for ALBUM. I'm always happy to see ODIUM (Sense of loathing) in the grid, and MELBA (Toast opening?) reminds me that my brother recently went on and on about how much he likes rusk. Not exactly the same, but in the same family.

Finally, I liked the pair of viewing-related C/APs "Comment made with eyes closed, perhaps" (ICANTWATCH) and "Don't tell me what happens yet!" (NOSPOILERS). 

Good Friday. 

- Horace

1 comment:

  1. RECENCYBIAS is a new one for me, too. At first, I entered UPSlATE for the Chicago clue, with lAOS being its cross (which is decidedly not in New Mexico), but since slate would fit more in geology, not geography, I switched that in a timely fashion to TAOS/UPSTATE, which makes much more sense on both counts. HATESON is good, but I don't know this TASHA Smith person; there are so many shows on right now it's difficult to keep up. I enjoyed seeing GREATGAME in the NE there, mostly because of its excellent clue, and NORTHSTAR was a nice entry, too. Good Friday (not literally), and finished in the usual time.

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