Today's crossword is of the "embedded word" variety, with the longer answers containing theme words, tied together with the standard revealer down near the bottom of the grid. And the theme? Chinese dynasties - to wit:
- FLAMINGLIPS (psychedelic rock band)
- HANSZIMMER (German film composer)
- WUTANGCLAN (Hip-hop group)
...all revealed by SONGDYNASTY - apparently the first Chinese government to establish a permanent navy. Nice factoid! There's cleverness here that I didn't get right away - at first I thought, ho hum, embedded dynasty names - but lo! the substrates are all musically connected, and the revealer dynasty is SONG - aha! So I take back my "ho hum".
Outside the theme - I liked the hyperbolic clue for DOI ("Abso-freaking-lutely!") ... interesting intersection of ELMO and ELM in the NE corner ... "People hold complicated positions on it" was a great clue for TWISTERMAT, I have vague recollections of playing Twister as a kid, blissfully unaware that it's really more of an adult game.
I take slight issue with the C/AP "Duck down" = EIDER at 33D. Yes, "eider down" is a thing, but an EIDER is a type of duck. I feel like this not an EIDER-or thing. (Or maybe I just wanted to slip this groaner in, here)
There was an odd moment in the SE corner when it looked like the "big export of Myanmar" was going to be RABIES. "What the heck?" I thought. (It's RUBIES.)
All in all a nice puzzle, which would not have been out of place on Monday.
Onwards and upwards!
-philbo
Funny, I had a different wrong guess for the Myanmar export - RUBbEr. Hah!
ReplyDeleteCool theme. I liked seeing the FLAMINGLIPS mentioned. That's a great song. :)