ABRIDGED TOO FAR
When I saw the title today, I was excited and tried to think of all the funny things the theme might be, like absurd shortening of titles. But then it wasn't that at all. It was the very interesting idea of cluing two books in the same way, and then finding one short book (or play) title within a long title. Kind of mind-blowing, but only after the fact for me. While I was solving it I didn't get it. But that's on me. As always, my mind kind of changes its scope while I solve. For some reason, I can't allow myself to think widely or expansively about anything. I'm just focussed on trying to figure out what letters should go into the little boxes. And yes, I know that thinking about the theme would probably help with that, but somehow I can't get myself to do it. It's weird. And... obviously... I can't explain it well.
So anyway, here are the themers:
AMIDSUMMERNIGHTSDREAM - Play about love and heartbreak in ancient Greece [1605, 431 B.C.[E.]] (Medea)
THEWINDINTHEWILLOWS (Timeless children's classic about country dwellers' friendships [1908, 1881] (Heidi)
CRIMEANDPUNISHMENT (Magnum opus about a young man, family and the concept of free will [1866, 1965] (Dune)
THECATCHERINTHERYE (Coming-of-age novel about a teenage boy and his isolation [1951, 1986] (Hatchet) (?)
FORWHOMTHEBELLTOLLS (Tale about soldiers and treachery in southern Europe [1940, 1603]
Personally, I don't know how people find things like this. After I hit "publish" I'm marching straight over to xwordinfo.com to see if Jim Horne has devised an algorithm for such a search. But in the meantime, let's talk about other entries.
"000-00-0002, for Mr. Burns on 'The Simpsons': Abbr." (SSN) was hilarious. "Damn Roosevelt!" and crossing that, "Addressed" took me for-ever! It only occurred to me after I finished that "Addressed" could mean something other than "spoke to." See also: "Advanced" (LENT). UGH.
EYETESTS (Exams that are essentially impossible to study for) was fun. UPCYCLE (Turn from an old pallet into a bookcase, for example) was nice and trendy. "Just what you'd expect" was fun for NORM. It's funny that I'm picking out mostly Downs, because I thought this was a very horizontal puzzle. Not much of anything long in the Downs, but the clues helped keep it interesting. And speaking of the Downs, I would have preferred "nutso" to NUTSY (Wackadoo), but again, the clue was solid.
Overall, this played a little tough for me, but I liked it.
- Horace
Played a little tough for me, too, but only in a couple of spots: the SW and the E where RONMIX crosses REX and ELI. The crosses were what saved it because I never heard of RONMIX, obviously. And in the E we had PEONS crossing ONO, with the former having an odd clue: "Drudges." I wanted Opa instead of ONO, which I figured was a reasonable abbreviation of opakapaka. But definitely a great theme; very inventive and ingenious. Circles necessary.
ReplyDeleteRONMIX was the hardest part for me as well! I loved this theme, even if HATCHET is unknown to me.
ReplyDelete