A pleasant, not too difficult themeless Friday puzzle that just seemed to flow from top to bottom, with a somewhat unusual 16x15 grid bisected vertically by a pair of long entries side by side. (What do we call "stacks" when they're vertical?) One of these really piqued my interest : Beethoven's MOONLIGHTSONATA, clued at 7D as "an inspiration for Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu". I'd not heard that before, so as I write this, I am listening to the Chopin piece with that in mind. It's lovely, but do I hear echoes of the Moonlight Sonata in there? I dunno. Maybe I need a better musical ear.
I particularly liked a couple of the other long entries as well. 18A "Qualifier to an embarrassing question" (ASKINGFORAFRIEND) made me smile; I use that phrase all the time. And the other long Down entry 8D "Kepler-22b or Kepler-186f, e.g." (EARTHLIKEPLANET) tickles my science-y fancy. Amazing that we can make that determination from impossibly far away!
Other nuggets in the grid .. 15A "Footnote phrase" is ETALII, which one rarely sees in its unabbreviated form. I was a little Shocked at the 65A QMC "What some streakers are charged with?" (TASER) - I definitely did not expect that! A bit of unusual construction in the lower left corner, with CLOT and CLOY side by side. Neat! I also had to do a double-take before accepting MEANS as the answer to "Is" at 26D.
Finally, a shoutout to William of OCCAM, he of the eponymous Razor. In the spirit of simplicity, I shall end here.
Cheerio!
-philbo
Hi Philbo! Nice week of reviews (so far). :)
ReplyDeleteAs far as the vertical spanners go, I have found myself calling them "pins," for some reason. I suppose we could also try "pegs," as though they were tent pegs. And if you come up with something even nicer, perhaps I'll switch over to that. I don't know if there's an official word for them in the community. That'll be a question for us to ask at the next A.C.P.T.