What a clever theme! And odd as well, befitting Wednesday, the hump-day red-headed stepchild of the week's crossword puzzles. A theme that is too challenging for Monday and Tuesday, but not tricksy like Thursday.
Today we must press the SHIFTKEY in order for the answers to the starred clues to work. Thus, instead of "equals" for 17A: *Peers, we get PLUSSIGN. Instead of "Slash" for 47A: *Guns N' Roses guitarist, we get QUESTIONMARK. The grid spanning OPENPARENTHESIS is the icing on the cake. I particularly like that Mr. Keller chose to use non-numbers for two of his answers.
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| SANSA Stark, a boon to Crossword constructors |
The Northeast corner is delightful. I entered into with 24A and 30A already in place, and I saw that I had ____MT at 10D. How could that work? In one way only, with DREAMT. Then, 11D: Toothbrush handle? (ORALB) is very good. And how about 19A: Order to relax (ATEASE)? So good how the first word of the clue could be either a noun or a verb, confusing the solver.
With SAKE and a COSMO in the mix, it's a puzzle that helps to take the edge off.
- Colum
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