Monday, February 19, 2024

Tuesday, February 20 2024, Robert S. Gard

Having just completed Tuesday's puzzle and kicked off this blog, I confess I didn't get what the theme was - I had to go back and review.  Yes, that's me, your trusty HALFBAKED reviewer...  The theme answers today show four different ways a thing (or person) can be half-baked:

  • By the sun - BIKINITAN.  This one doesn't sit quite right with me, as surely this suggests a "baked" level of much more than half?
  • In the oven - LAVACAKE.
  • By one's stoner friends - CONTACTHIGH.
  • By an overactive mind - WILDIDEA.
Nice construction!  In my re-review, I saw TIT for the first time, having evidently gotten it from the crossers, and took a guess at how it was clued before actually looking.  Got it wrong - it's "Small songbird", not "__ for tat" (nor anything else).  


Overall this went quickly for me.  I entered VIDI instead of ISAW as the middle part of Caesar's boast, as I bet many of you also did, which was a minor snarl, and DRYLY instead of DRILY ("In a deadpan manner") - this sort of thing always seems to trip me up.  I liked the Richard Feynman shout-out - as an old Physics guy, Feynman's always been a hero of mine.  We may have come across Ted CHIANG in another crossword some months back, so I may be repeating myself here : if you like sci-fi/speculative fiction, I highly recommend this guy's short stories.

I really should sit down and watch MADMAX some day.

Have to cut it short today.  A la prochaine!

-philbo


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