WRITTEN IN THE STARS
Hey folks! Can you believe the summer is almost over? I'm enjoying the last weekend in August sitting on our screened porch in Albany, taking a break from the city. I wouldn't say it's been the most relaxing summer I've ever had because of reasons, but we enjoy what we can when we can.
Speaking of which, how about enjoying the NYT crossword? The Sunday edition is always a bit of an outlier for a number of reasons: it can accommodate more and longer theme answers, which allows for more absurdity, which I like. But it is also larger, which can make the solve a bit of a slog sometimes, and it may be tilted towards an early-week level of difficulty.
Sadly, today's puzzle is not one for absurdity. The theme is revealed at 69A: Ones making periodic appearances ... or the link between the capitalized clues and their answers (RECURRINGCHARACTERS). In essence, the connection is that the names of the individuals in the clue and the associated answer are made up of combinations of the same limited set of letters. This sort of theme is interesting but not intellectually stimulating. Knowing that Martin Sheen and HENRIMATISSE use all of and only A, E, H, I, M, N, R, S, and T makes me say, "OHREALLY?" And that's it.
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| POLOCOATS - something I've never heard of |
In the rest of the fill, I liked the clue 61A: Four to two, e.g. (SQUARE) - not odds, not ratio, not a moment in time. 15D: Stout figure? (BREWER) is a cute QMC.
Having FUNNYGIRL and GIGI in the same grid, along with ARIA and SOLI all scratched my music itch.
So it's a fine Sunday, not the best, but I did get to solve it sitting on my porch in nice weather, so I'm happy.
- Colum
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