61 squares of theme material? Sure, Mr. Katz. Set yourself a nearly impossible task.
The mnemonic RIGHTYTIGHTY / LEFTYLOOSEY is our guiding concept here. And so cleverly deployed, as well! If 13A: *Wiggler in a child's mouth (TOOTH) didn't make complete sense to you as you filled it in in the NW, well, that's because it's on the left side of the puzzle, so you should add "loose" before it (on its left) to make "loose tooth." The other two on the left are [LOOSE]LEAF and [LOOSE]LIPS.
On the right side of the puzzle, three answers have "tight" added after, or to their right, to make SKIN[TIGHT], HANG[TIGHT], and SLEEP[TIGHT]. As a bonus, SCREWDRIVERS is put in, just to make sure we don't have a screw loose.
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| Example of the genus BERETS |
Mr. Katz has set up the black squares throughout the puzzle to ensure that no down answer goes through more than two of the across answers involved in the theme. Well done!
In the fill, I enjoyed 53A: Stick used for breaking (CUE) - as in while playing pool; and 61A: Characteristic sound of Yoko Ono? (LONGO).
11D: Without it, that's neat (ICE) is a delightful non-QMC. Even better is 18D: Oh, to be in France! (ETRE). Hah! Finally, 51D: It might be used while boxing (TWINE) is very nice.
Pretty amazing Wednesday, IMO.
- Colum
Agree. This was a fun one!
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