This was a satisfying solve. I broke in quickly with ALEC (Guinness with an Oscar), QUAD (Thigh muscle, informally), and BELLCURVE (Result of a normal distribution), then pretty much the whole right side fell down from that. The exotic ELKHOUNDS beside the beautiful CLEMATIS, running through the more commonplace BUTTSOUT (Minds one's own business), MUNIS, and WEEDS. And while I, myself, have enjoyed riding centuries, the clue "Long ones can be measured in centuries" does not sound quite right. Ninety-nine percent of the time, when bikers talk about a century they are talking about a specific ride of 100-miles. I suppose it is possible that, if, say, you were in the Tour de France on a particularly long day, you could say "That was like doing two centuries!" but again... not at all common. Not least because for most riders, that would be the equivalent of 8-10 hours in the saddle.
My driver's license includes the words ORGANDONOR, because I believe that life-saving pieces should not be as hard to get as UNOBTANIUM (dumb word, but whatever).
I was fooled by both hidden capitals in the SW - "Crush cans, maybe" (GRAPESODAS) and "Perseverance, e.g." (MARSROVER). And yes, I was also fooled again by "Edges of a diamond?" (DEES). Gah! When will I learn!?
"Nurses" was good for SIPSON, NOTEWORTHY was "Striking," and I was expecting a plural when I read "Some striped strips," but no, it's everybody's favorite - BACON! Hey, have I mentioned that I was in two separate BACON-eating contests? Well, I was. And the great thing about that was that everybody was a winner going in - it was free, and we got to eat all the bacon we possibly could! Good times... And speaking of BACON, I grew up in Worcester, the birthplace of DINERS! I'd try the Miss Worcester someday IFIWEREYOU - it's my favorite. :)
Overall, a lovely grid. I have no complaints AVEC ceci.
- Horace
I felt like this one was meant for me! First of all - we met Ms. Lin at last year's ACPT - in fact we had lunch with her on the Saturday! And then there was the Century clue; as an avid road biker, I have done numerous centuries (well, *metric* centuries, but still). And a bit of French in there. And UNOBTANIUM - ridiculous word, though I did enjoy the movie - though my real beef was that Avatar was an uncredited ripoff of a pulpy sci-fi novel I'd read as a kid. "Midworld" by Alan Dean Foster. Look it up!
ReplyDeleteMarvelous, silky smooth puzzle today. 5:47 for me, speedy for a Friday. Kudos to you, Barbara Lin!
What a blast! This is a lovely puzzle and a joy to solve. Never heard of UNOBTANIUM or CRYOSLEEP, but both were inferable after a few letters from the cross words...and they're fun words! Bravo, Barbara Lin!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun Friday puzzle! Took me a little longer than Philbo, and I had an error as well: I put in S instead of G at GLOB. I should have known that sERMS was wrong, but that would have required me checking the crosses, which (guess what) I didn't. Love the smoothness, and it was great having lunch with Ms. Lin at the ACPT!
ReplyDelete