Thursday, April 13, 2023, Robin Yu

Today's theme answers are so literal it almost hurts - almost. :) The revealer is TOOLITTLETOOLATE and each theme answer is either a common phrase or a triple-platinum 1991 Hammer album that would normally start with the word "too" but that word has been moved to the end of the phrase and squeezed into one square, rebus-style. The result is "too" (little), showing up too late in the phrase. I love [TOO]LEGITTOQUIT. If only I felt that way about my blog posting! :) One drawback to the theme is that the final [TOO]s don't add anything new to the theme answers, if you see what I mean. OTOH, we do get the fun-if-oddly-spelled AR[TOO]DE[TOO] where the Down answer crosses two TOOs. 

I found this puzzle an uneven mix of super easy clues and not-so-easy clues: some took ONESEC ("Central" (MID), "Prohibition" (BAN), "Water gate" (SLUICE), "Adobe file suffix" (PDF), "Stereotypical product for a kid's first entrepreneurial endeavor" (LEMONADE)), while others were more of ATRIAL including "Eritrea's capital" (ASMARA) - which I know was probably not difficult for most of you, dear Readers! -  "Mob member" RIOTER - I was thinking of the Mafia - "Take over?" (RETAPE) - reely?- "Some compound gases"  (MONOXIDES) - singular! -  "Romantic music genre originating in the Dominican Republic" (BACHATA) - a real song and dance! - "Jus ___ (birthright citizenship) (SOLI) - am I the only one who didn't know this?  - and I don't want to dis COMFITS ("Candied fruits or nuts"), but the 19th century called and wants their snacks back. 

Also in the mix were some clues I ESP liked like "Big feller?" for AXE, KEEP for "Fortified tower", and "They check out people who check in, in brief" (TSA). And who doesn't like the word QUALMS? All in all, I didn't make too many EROS and finished in 19:25. 

~Frannie.

P.s. I probably OORT to have fit in a tutu and at least one "too too" in here somewhere, oortn't I had?