Saturday, March 22, 2025, Katie Hoody

This was a doozy! It started out easy, with DADA (Style of Duchamp's so-called "readymades"), DONTMOVEAMUSCLE ("Stay still!"), and even the guessable ETON (____ blue (original team color of the Chelsea Football Club)) and ANTOINETTE (____ of Bourbon, grandmother of Mary, Queen of Scots). But the CONTROLLEDCHAOS (It's not as random as it seems) at the bottom of the grid was like a TICKINGTIMEBOMB (Plot device in some suspense thrillers). 

I initially guessed shoES for "They come with strings attached," and from that entered smU for "The Wildcats of the Big 12 Conf." I have never known anything about college sports. If it weren't for Doug Flutie I might not even know that it's the Boston College Eagles. Anyhooo... I could remember hearing other English actresses talking about ELLIE Bamber, so that helped put a few letters in, but still it was a long time before I would figure out that "Cry before a shot" was SMILE. And me, a photographer! On the other hand, I was thinking as a photographer when I read "You might sit for one," but no, this time it's babysitting a KID! Hah!

Another slowdown was entering sidES instead of EDGES for "Pentagon quintet." I did not remember the ICEPALACE (Massive hockey arena in St. Petersburg, Russia) until it was forced on me by DRAGONCON (Annual Atlanta gathering of sci-fi/gaming fans) and the excellent DAISIES (Links in a certain chain). And then it was SODA (Pop) that finally squared the pentagon clue.

I've seen mis-directions like "Angled for attention?: Abbr." before, but did it help me to think straight and enter ITAL? No, it didn't. See also: "Cream alternative." I was seeing all kinds of plant-based milks, but not the color ECRU! And how about "Way-out fun?" (MAZE). Wow. Took me a long time to get into that one! 

Overall, I loved it. What did you think about it, Kelly? ;)

- Horace

Tuesday, March 4, 2025, Hanh Huynh

Another lovely Tuesday puzzle. I was rolling right along in this one, minding my own business, when I got to that SE corner and found three clues so good I had to write about them. 

Nine to five, for example - RATIO
A red one is rare - STEAK
and
Make two dos, say? - TRANSLATE

Nice! 

The revealer, IMSHOOK ("This news has got me rattled!" ... or a hint to...") (An all-too-common phrase these days), is a fun one. I was a photographer who used 4x5 Polaroid film for about twenty years, and I never shook them - I rubbed them between my palms, but I have seen that shake, so I'm not complaining. And does a TAMBOURINE really "jingle?" Maybe so... and people definitely shake those. Sometimes rather too much. :)

There's a little bit of an unfortunate cross in OHHI/OHYOU, but, hey, I came here to write about it because I enjoyed it. Did you?

- Horace

Tuesday, February 18, 2025, Erik Agard

I had to come back to say a few words about this puzzle. And those words are: I loved it. 

This is pretty much a perfect theme, executed perfectly. The first three themers: ICANTBELIEVEYOU, WHODOESTHAT, and THEAUDACITY, all clued with "Seriously?!," seemed like a solid theme all on their own, but then when I hit the last "Seriously?!" clue and understood what was going on, I laughed out loud. 

And for a theme like this, on a Tuesday, I am willing to look the other way when 1A is ROH ("Ruh-____!" (Astro's "Yikes!")(Maybe part of the "Seriously?!" theme?). TAE (____ kwon do) is another partial, but aside from that, the fill is solid. And I liked the Indigenous American mini-theme: "918 or 539, on the Cherokee Nation" (AREACODE), "Important powwow figure" (HEADDANCER), and "New Mexico site of the largest radioactive accident in U.S. history" (CHURCHROCK) (this CRISIS polluted the water source for Navaho Nation). 

I had missteps at "Emphatic rejection" (HECKNO) (I tried something a little stronger) and "Enough already! I'll do it!" (OKOK) (tried OKay), but other than it went pretty smoothly. 

Lastly, I liked "Ones vowing payback?" for IOUS.

Excellent puzzle.

- Horace