Hey out there in Crossword Land! Philbo here, for another week of quality NYTXWD blogging...
"Not a terrible first try, Collin." I say this in the spirit of today's puzzle, whose theme features nastiness and disagreeability, all the way from cattiness to out-and-out mendaciousness, all with entertainingly punny cluing. For example, the Dracula-evoking "I vant to suck your blood" is a BITINGREMARK, and (approriately today on Wimbledon Finals Weekend), "Wow! With form like that, you're headed to Wimbledon" is a BACKHANDEDCOMPLIMENT. I grew up knowing this as a LEFTHANDEDCOMPLIMENT - part of the systematic persecution of us left-handers, of course - which could have been clued something like "You're our star southpaw pitcher". All very amusing, and I mean this as neither a PATRONIZINGCOMMENT nor a BALDFACEDLIE.
Outside the theme, there were many clever clues to appreciate. "Lap, maybe" (REPASS) was super misleading, as was "One looking after pupils, for short" (EYEDOC). "Turkey part" isn't BREAST - it's ANKARA. I thought "Puts away" would be EATS, but no, it's ICES. My favourite QMC today was "Bull rings?" - PRANKCALLS. Brilliant!
My only hiccup today was FAB for "Groovy", instead of the requisite FLY, which caused a bit of confusion near the NW corner. Over to the East, SEITAN was new to me as a "Tofu alternative" (it's made from wheat gluten). Fortunately, the crossers came to the rescue, including OUIJA, questionably clued as a "Device for sending group messages?" - isn't it more for RECEIVING messages? But I quibble. And while I'm on my quibblin' wagon, at 84D I think a "Baking recipe instruction" would be just KNEAD, not KNEADIT. Right before that, surely ACIDIC isn't necessarily "Far from basic"? Also, a YETI is a "Himalayan menace" to only the most credulous...
EOIN Colfer is a hero of mine. His Artemis Fowl series was the source of many hours of excellent entertainment, reading to my kids.
Incidentally, ABES as "Fivers" isn't a thing up here in our neck of the woods. We don't have a nickname for our "fivers". They could be WILFS, I suppose (look it up!).
Fun Sunday puzzle!
-philbo
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