When I joined this little blogging cabal in the spring, it did not occur to me that I'd be sitting here on Christmas Eve with a Sunday crossword in front of me, deciding what to write about it! And here we are. Presents are wrapped, tree trimmed, food and drink procured, fireplace set, holiday music cued up, family together - all systems go basically. And added to this festive context is a perfectly appropriately themed puzzle - with five ELFs hidden in their own little squares around the grid, as indicated by the theme answer SANTASLITTLEHELPERS. A simple but clever little device, which revealed itself to me early on via "Sympathize with", which had to be FEELFOR, with only five squares to fit it into. From that point, it was a matter of staying aware of the possibility, and the remaining Elves were easy to find.
None of the hidden Elves appeared to be on a shelf of any sort. I marvel at the ingenuity of whoever came up with the "Elf on the Shelf" idea. Taking childhood behavioral blackmail to stratospheric new levels!!
Aside from the theme, I liked the seasonal soupcon sprinkling the grid. My favourite, which I didn't "get" right away, was SILENTN ("End of Autumn"), which surely must be a deliberate reference to the Christmas carol! Right below that, I had to mentally recite "Jingle Bells" to get its fourth word (SNOW). And OPENTOE is indeed a non-optimal Xmas stocking design!
I was pleased at the appearance of Avenger Diana RIGG, as my dad may or may not have had a crush on her, back in the day. And of course SPINALTAP, an enduring favourite of mine, though it's debatable whether the front man was David St. Hubbins (certainly the brains of the operation, such as they were) or the perpetually fogged-in Nigel Tufnel. "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" - I never tire of that line. Or of the whole movie, really.
I found the grid in general tough going today, with little miscues hampering me in many places, such as INBORN instead of INBRED for "Hereditary", which messed me up for a while up at the top. And I'd never heard of MINGNA Wen ("The Mandalorian"), and "End of turn?" (STILE) was slightly too clever for me today. In the spirt of giving, I'll forgive awkward filler like ANTES and RARES and RUER today.
Great puzzle overall!! I'll say it again tomorrow, doubtless, but : Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you dear readers!
-philbo
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