Rabbit, rabbit!
Boy, I had some trouble in the South today! NEODADA (One of many genres for Yoko Ono) was tough for me, especially because I had entered - and was pretty confident about - hAUNT for "Unnerve" (DAUNT). I still like mine, but I guess I agree that DAUNT also works. But anyway, I also didn't know that Joe-PYE weed was a thing. It is, and it can grow up to something like seven or eight feet tall. Weird.
So the theme, which I did not understand until I finished, is actually pretty fun. ANTICI (First half of this puzzle's theme ...) was very confusing, even as I uncovered ALMOSTTHERE and WAITFORIT. NOTQUITEYET was the last piece to fall for me, and only then did I put the ANTICI together with the PATION at the end. Hah! It was making me wait!
I enjoyed ATBIRTH beside NURTURE, reigniting the ol' nature vs. NURTURE discussion. Misparsing GOONTOUR is fun, and I'm sure our pal Huygens will enjoy mention of ANTARES.
I didn't know they'd go high-end with "About half of a sidecar" and entered "brandy" at first instead of COGNAC. (Full disclosure, I've also made them with Armagnac. Delicious.) Once again, the "direct imperative" style clue got me again with "Step on it!" (INSOLE). And I enjoyed "Sound a little rusty, maybe" for SQUEAK. Hah!
The top went a lot faster than the bottom for me, but it did not IRRITATE me. Indeed, even without a rebus, I thought this was a fun start to the Turn.
- Horace
This one took me a bit longer than normal for a Wednesday, and I did, indeed, enjoy ANTARES in there, especially because the very inspiration for its name happens to be in Taurus at this time: Mars, or Ares as the Greeks referred to the god of war. People would sometimes confuse the star with the planet as they are both ruddy and around the same magnitude, hence the name of the star. At least, that's how I remember it, not looking it up at present. I also enjoyed HOUSTON (first word spoken on the Moon), and, like Horace, was confused with NEODADA, of which I'd never heard. I will refrain from searching out Yoko "singing" in this manner. I also never heard of ANNASUI, needing all of the crosses down there in the SE. Overall, a fun, if slightly difficult, Thursday.
ReplyDeleteI liked it! I was able to fill in the PATION as soon as I had the letters to 1A in place. One wee nit...I would've switched the positions of ALMOST THERE and NOT QUITE YET, but that's just me.
ReplyDeleteOh you took this as the peanut butter commercial? I took it as a Rocky Horror reference where the line (from memory) is "I'm quivering with antici" (pauses) (audience) "say it" "say it" "say it" (actor) "pation".
ReplyDeleteI had an unfair advantage on PYE because I was a native plant enthusiast when I lived in Maryland and had Joe Pye Weed in my garden and would see it on hikes and so on