Sometimes the tiniest little error can have a disproportionate impact...and so it was in the NW corner today, after the first Down answer went in ("Recipe abbr." = TBSP as it almost always is). This led to 18A - "what's shaken after 'Shake'" - starting with 'P', so it's PEG, right? (It's not. It's PAW of course.) These two wrong letters completely farbed me up, as my mother would say, so that the very clever QMC at 16A "Notices that trouble is in the air?" (SMOGALERTS) was just about my last one in.
Moving along - over on the right side, I put in ESTADAS for "The States, to Mexicans", which, being completely wrong (it's ELNORTE), really wreaked havoc in the general area. Once that was sorted out, I liked the well-concealed PRIVATEEYE ("Spade, for one" - great clue!) Just south of ELNORTE was the QMC "Transportation for a bride?" (TRAIN); this one somehow doesn't sit right with me. I get that it's punny.. I guess it's that it isn't actually a bride's transportation in any sense. I dunno. Is it just me, here?
Towards the bottom, it took me longer than it should have that the answer to "Expert with tips" was ADVICEGURU. I had the GURU part early but couldn't make the leap for quite some time. I liked the seldom-seen TRICE ("Blink of an eye"). Oh and as another example of my transitory ineptitude over on the left, "Poor sport's reaction" is SOURGRAPES, not SORELOSING as I originally entered. D'oh!
Very nice difficult themeless, this. Part of what makes the Friday and Saturday crosswords so enjoyable is that they're peppered with clues that are correct but give away little upon first reading, and this offering was no exception. I hope you liked it too!
-philbo
I did like it, Philbo! I'm a fan of C.C.'s and she's done some terrific work with Tom Pepper. Hand raised for having ESTADAS -- then trying ESTADOS -- before EL NORTE. SEAWEED SALAD is new to me...I wonder how it tastes?
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