It's been a while since I've seen a tribute puzzle, one where all the theme answers relate to a particular subject. The nice twist (see what I did there?) in today's grid is that the theme answers recreate the classic movie poster for VERTIGO, with a spiral created by the gray squares for the theme answers.
It's been a while since I've watched any HITCHCOCK movies. I remember enjoying them a ton, years ago. I wonder if they'd still hold up, but my guess is probably. The DOLLYZOOM is so common now that we take it pretty much for granted, but I bet it was a real shock to movie goers when the film first came out.
The grid for today's puzzle is uniquely symmetric across the NW to SE diagonal, with some long answers which are not themed - in particular the two 15-letter answers. Which is why, I suppose, in addition to outlining the spiral, that the theme answers are gray squared. Still, MONKEYINGAROUND is excellent, and IDEMANDARECOUNT is both strong and disturbingly on the nose in today's politics.
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| Kim NOVAK |
I also enjoyed APOPLEXY and FIGMENT. And who doesn't enjoy a clue like 26A: Stingy sort? (WASP). Reminds me of one of Horace's all-time classic jokes: What's brown and sticky? Answer: a stick. [Rimshot].
The other fun clue was 44A: Unsettling cry to hear during a haircut (UHOH). Hah!
Otherwise the cluing and fill was pretty straightforward for a Wednesday. Fun odd day out puzzle. Looking forward to The Turn!
- Colum
No problems here (4:47). Nice tribute to Mr. Hitchcock! I didn't get the "spiral" until you pointed it out, Colum. I had the 'H' of the 'Unsettling cry...' clue and put in OUCH, which I think is a perfectly serviceable answer, don't you?
ReplyDeleteI'm getting an MRI in a few weeks, but for my TMJ, not ACL.
APOPLEXY is one of my favourite words.