Today's theme answers were all as easy as ABC. After all, to solve a crossword puzzle, it's only necessary to put the correct letter in each box in the grid and TADA! Bob's your uncle. Of course, the clues the constructors come up with make it a little more challenging than that, and to come up with this puzzle's theme answers, you had to equate four idioms for simplicity with alternate, more literal interpretations, such as LADYFINGER for "It's a piece of cake," and NATUREHIKE for "It's a walk in the park." The grid-spanning "It's a no-brainer" might have had the most amusing answer (HEADLESSHORESEMAN), but it also the only one that doesn't actually exist. Why I thought that was odd, I don't really know, but I did.
As much as this puzzle celebrated lack of difficulty, this solver encountered a couple of potholes on easy street. At the start, before I figured out the theme, the top middle section was unENRICHED by answers. I didn't immediately get which Greek letter was meant by the description ("Greek letter that looks like an 'O' superimposed with an 'I'"), while the answer to the Down clue "Prohibited in Islam" was also prohibited in my brain, leaving me with _OOH_ for "Ruckus." Fortunately, there are limited options for Greek letters and once I had the initial H, the correct answer, HOOHA jumped out at me.
The rest of the solve was like taking candy from a baby - without the crying that usually follows. I was entertained by the C/APs (Clue/Answer Pairs) "Intermittently offered fast-food pork sandwich" (MCRIB), "Lipstick blunder" (SMEAR), and "English facilities" (LOOS). Both the clue "Effrontery" and the answer GALL are great words. I also TOTES enjoy BEEF for complaint. ADHERE, DATUM, and PACKANIMAL were fun fill.
I do have a slight nit to pick with LICE for "Pet pests." The more obvious answer seemed like it would have been flea, but the plural in the clue precluded that option. Maybe I don't know enough about pet pests, although, come to think about it, I know as much as I ever want to.
Now I think I'll go take a walk in the park.
~Frannie.
I, too, was bothered by LICE. I associate that more with dirty children, but I suppose that may not be a fair description to the poor tykes that are afflicted; it's probably not their fault. PHI is an oft-seen symbol in math, so I had no problem with that, but usually Greek letter clues are less obvious to me, needing more crosses. Our school didn't have a TEAMMASCOT, so that took some crosses for me, and there were some tricky bits in the puzzle, including HEADLESSHORSEMAN, which Frannie mentions, so this Tuesday offering took longer than normal for this solver to complete.
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