Instead of doing something to the POOCH, I thought I'd get right down to today's review - to RELEASE THE HOUNDS, as it were. Today's puzzle is all about where idiom meets the animal world. The fauna-related theme phrases have entered the general vernacular and, in some cases, the animal references have become quite oblique, or aren't really animal references at all.
POKETHEBEAR - "Antagonize a powerful figure" - this one is fairly direct and self-explanatory; here, I associate "bear" with Stalin-era USSR.
JUMPTHESHARK - "Become absurdly outlandish, as a TV show" - the most literal of all the theme answers, as anybody who ever watched Happy Days knows.
SHOOTTHEBULL - "Chat idly" - has nothing to do with bovines but rather, if the Interweb is trustworthy, to do with whiling away the time playing darts.
FLIPTHEBIRD - "Gesture rudely, in a way" - this one I'm not sure about (anybody?) though it certainly has nothing to do with rotating a fowl about any axis, and the gesture itself dates back many centuries.
So that's a fun lightweight Monday theme! The rest of the grid yielded readily, though I thought just a titch difficult for Monday (this is *not* a complaint). QMCs were in short supply, though I did smile at the Snoopy reference, his alter ego (one of them, that is) being JOECOOL.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and FEED THE KITTY, by which I mean my cat is hungry and is meowing by his food bowl. Ta ta for today!
-philbo
Interesting about SHOOTTHEBULL. I had no idea. And I now I want to research "flipping the bird." I will report back any findings. :)
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