What a fun and clever theme. MOVEDOVER (Change a map of southern England? ... or, when parsed differently, what you need to do to the answers to the starred clues). Hah! Move Dover, or, Move "D" over. And I love how the first themer, SPICEDRUM (*Large container for cinnamon or coriander?) sort of seems normal. At least to me. Like - I thought "Spice drum" seemed normal enough, and I didn't immediately think of "spiced rum." (But maybe that's just because I almost never drink rum.) Then LOVEDONE (*Gist of a Dear John letter?) seemed ok, too. It's a weird way of referencing a loved one, but ok.
But by the time I got to "*Play matchmaker?," the present tense in the clue and the past tense in the answer (FORGEDALLIANCES) finally made me realize that I was missing something. Hah!
Some cute clues for the actors EMMA (Stone on a set) and IDRIS (Able is he and he is Elba). And in the QMC department, "Recovers some yards" (SODS), "Tiny matter" (ATOM), and "Kitchen counters?" (EGGTIMERS) were all strong.
Sure, ARCED and AISLED were some answers you might have liked to "move D over" and out of, but overall, the theme carried the day today.
- Horace
Really enjoyed this -- terrific theme entries/clues. And I didn't grasp the theme until the reveal, which is always satisfying.
ReplyDeleteSame! I had FORCEDALLIANCES in there momentarily, without so much as a clue how it could be that (and it wasn't). Clever clever theme!
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