Today's puzzle showcases the oft-neglected letter 'B' (overshadowed as it tends to be by its neighbour, the 'A'). The solve itself is on the mild side for a Wednesday, but the true value lies in the construction: every single clue begins with the letter 'B', and furthermore, there are a disproportionate 19 'B's in the grid, mostly concentrated in four of the five long Across answers. The fifth is the revealer - HAPPYBDAY - indeed!! I am wondering if maybe our constructor is sending someone (or herself) a message.. my own B-day was last week (60 - eek!!) .
When clue construction is constrained like this, I would expect them to be somewhat forced at times, but not today - they flowed so naturally that it took me quite a while to even twig to those leading 'B's! So hats off to Ms. Uthlaut today. Even "Beldames" for CRONES works, as it's just such a good word.
The narrative of the grid .. as I noted above, I didn't find it super challenging today, though I made my own trouble by entering AIM instead of SKI as a "Biathlete's need" (hey, it could have been) .. How is BRA a "Bali product"? Don't make me Google it, people.. ONELB as a "Box of spaghetti's weight" was cheeky...no LOL-worthy QMCs to report today. "Beyond the pale?" (ASHIEST) was a bit lame, IMO.
That's all I got. The joy today was primarily recognition of constructive cleverness!
-philbo
The clue for BASEBALL BAT [Brewer's implement] is pretty cool. And yes, Philbo, there's a company named "Bali" that manufacturers ladies' lingerie.
ReplyDeleteYes! That was a good clue; I should have mentioned it..
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