So, even though there weren't many ROIs (References of Interest) for this solver, I thought there was a HOST of fine cluing. "Milk duds?" for NURSINGBRA was clever and amusing, if a bit edgy. "Precipitous" for RAINY and "Sign of a big hit?" for POW are both very nice. As our dear Readers know, I especially enjoy an apt clue. I have to single out "Apt laptop choice for a tennis pro?" (ACER) for its extra aptiness and fun computer reference. In the non-QMC category, I enjoyed "Base fig." for NCO - once I figured it out, that is. :) Less of a hit with me was GARAGE for "Escape room?"
And, while the middle row consists entirely of three-letter answers, the clueing livens things up, especially "Top spot, in brief?" for CEO and everyone's favorite old verb of motion, HIE. Also, NEMESIS, WAFER, and BLATHER are fun fill.
One spot that tripped me up besides ORECART was CAESARDRESSING. I don't take a Caesar salad, so I had ____DRESSING for a long time, but couldn't think of a type that would fit the spaces. Derp. And I perhaps misunderstood the clue "Ragu, e.g." because I couldn't think of anything that fit my conception and the spaces preceding SAUCE (MEATSAUCE). But, when I figured out the entertaining "Hunter gatherer?" clue (GAMEWARDEN) I was able to complete the meal.
OTOH, I surprised myself by dropping in SANTANA for "Guitarist Carlos" due, I'm sure, to my association with Horace over the years), which brings me to my overall feeling about the puzzle. I found the content to lean heavily on traditionally male-associated topics (sports, video games, D&D, Star Wars, poker, "The Big Lebowski," etc.). Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it did mean that this puzzle's wheelhouse and mine had little overlap. On the upside, it wasn't so far out of my mortal ken that I couldn't solve it. Winning!
~Frannie.
No comments:
Post a Comment