Tuesday, March 7, 2017, Freddie Cheng

12:49

As I completed the grid, I found the anagramization of T,A,L,E,S at the end of each theme answer quickly GOINGSTALE. It was a nice that the theme's big finish was LASTBUTNOTLEAST, but the presence of NICOLATESLA not withstanding, I felt the puzzle lacked electricity.

I did enjoy KEPI and MELEE, which are both fun words. And 39A. Prevents litter? (SPAYS) was  clever, but the parade of LII, LIE, LET, LPS, SSR, ASSN, AKA, BAA, AHS, HTS, CTS, STR, SKA and TASK, to name a few, elicited more than a few muttered TSKS as I puzzed.

Maybe this is too many CARPS, but I am not a fan of LASE (Cut with a beam) as a verb, or NULLS for that matter  (48D. Makes void). I thought of a few possible sentences using nulls as the main verb, but it would upset Horace if I printed them here, so you'll have to contact me off blog if you're interested. :)

The clue for 1A. won't win any MEDALS (Things that may be displayed on a general's chest), but as an entry in and of itself, it's not bad.

On TOTHE next.

~Frannie

Monday, March 6, 2017, Susan Gelfand

7:47

My time brings to mind a jet plane - in a way. But in another way, not so much. It's more than twice the gold standard for a Monday puzzle, but I'm not sure I could complete a grid in three minutes even if all the letters were the same. But, enough about me, let's get to today's puzzle.

I found this puzzle's theme charming and entertaining. It's the kind of theme I wish I could come up with. My dream of getting a puzzle published in the NYT continues to elude me, but that's not why you called me here (I guess it wasn't quite enough about me after all). The clue/answer pairs created some nice IMAGERY. My favorite theme entry might be DUSTJACKET (article of outerwear for a housekeeper?), but CHEVYBLAZER (article of outerwear for a General Motors employee?) made me LOL. Really they are all very good. A fun idea carried off with 62A.

Another plus is that the rest of the grid wasn't sacrificed to support the theme. We have quite a few threes, but only one of them was clued with Abbr. A triumph! It's true that 1A isn't the most engaging kickoff clue and answer ever, but as it was immediately followed by CASK (Wine barrel), I'm pretty sure the FDA was quickly forgotten.

I have a special fondness for the word BROGAN (32A. Ankle-high work shoe). Unfortunately, as one so rarely sees that word, I first entered its uglier and more common cousin, chukka. The B of brogan sprouted another fan favorite, BOT, excellently clued with Droid (32D). 

SEGO lily, BAL Harbour, Fla., and RIAS (inlets) aren't in my everyday vocabulary basket, but they didn't cause me any trouble thanks to the solid surrounding clues like RAINHAT and BYTE. IRKSOME, BEESWAX, INKLING, and ACROBAT are also nice.

FINI.

~Frannie.

Sunday, March 5, 2017, Timothy Polin

IT'S ELEMENTARY

It took me a little while to get into today's theme, but after entering a few of the theme answers, I ended up enjoying it. I was even able to use the element in 60 across to correct an error on a down and complete the answer (ROADSIDEDINER).  I had entered WOODsy instead of WOODED at 32D (much cuter), but when I saw that the element was NE, I knew that the 'y' had to be a big, big D. :)

I am fairly happy that I didn't know 67A. Chocolate -and-banana liqueur cocktail (CAPRI). DOESNT SOUND GOODY to me.

There were some clever clues TRUout (not that one), but, I did like 28D. Top story (ATTIC), 56A. Bomb developed in the 1950s (EDSEL), 84D. Issue for a noble family? (SCION), and 118A. One given a citation (SOURCE).

OTERI, SOT, ERR, and EELS all made ENCOREs today. I was sorry to learn about eel pie. YEW.

Remember how I didn't like the recent TEHEE? The same goes for TEPEE.

That's all I have time for today. YOLO!

~Frannie

Saturday, March 4, 2017, Mary Lou Guizzo

47:29

Lots of good vocabulary here: LEACH, GINUP, ALEUT, SCUT. The spell check in this blog editor doesn't even think scut's a word; it is underlined in edit mode as if it were an error. Ha.

We were INLUCK with several fun clues and answers including 27D. Fast results? (PANGS), 16A. Where lines are drawn? (ARTI), 34A. Gone badly? (AWOL), and 37A. British thrones? (LOOS),

It was nice to see local favorite NECCO in the grid. According to the Wikipedia. Necco produced its one trillionth Necco Wafer candy in the fall of 2010, In another pleasant surprise, the great Phil OCHS popped up at 38A. ("Draft Dodger Rag" singer). Some recent events make one miss his voice more than ever. :|

I'll also say YEA to all the European flair: NEUER, EPEE, ARNO, EUROS, PIAF, TREVI. Good TIMES.

To cavil a bit, I don't Cotton Bowl to this puzzle's spelling of 46D. Laughter sound (TEHEE). If the T part is to be pronounced like the H part, why not spell them the same way? And don't say 1517 years of language history. And if you are meant to pronounce the first part with a short e, don't. It just might make me swear a big, big D.

THATSIT.

~Frannie.

Friday, March 3, 2017, Patrick Berry

24:31

I had better tighten my ASTEROIDBELT and get this puzzle reviewed before midnight. ONEDAY I'll get it done earlier.

Mr. Berry entertains, as ever, with several clever clues. I especially enjoyed 11D. Has everything? OVEREATS and 13A. Heady stuff (ALE).

And how about the nice pair of clues in 10A. Hold up (ROB) and 49D. Pull down (EARN)? I also noticed the 5D/39D combo BEE HIVE, which may have been a fluke (or an EEL), but also possibly not. Another amusing clue was 28A. Sir in the Ruhr (HERR). I enjoyed BONEDRY as well (12D). 52A. Dachshund, colloquially (SAUSAGEDOG) is funny, although in my colloquy one more often hears them called wiener dogs.

We have MEDUSA back for the second time this week. Perseus had better get bizzay. I didn't recognize the names of either of Medusa's two sisters, so which one is really immortal after all, eh? Take that Stheno and Euryale.

I don't usually take note of the grid itself, unlike some of my esteemed colleagues, but today I did notice the one answer running top to bottom down the middle (SUMMERTIMEBLUES), which I thought was nifty. I tried to invest it with some significance relative to the rest of the puzzle, but I couldn't. Anyone else?

I don't want to be the QUEENOFMEAN, but there are a couple of clues I am critical of. The clue/answer pair 41D. Flickering light (STROBE) for one. Although, accurate, in a way, flickering is not quite how I would describe a strobe light. Also, AUTORACE for 33D. (Talladega event) seemed a bit obvi for a Friday puzzle, but perhaps I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Although my time for today's puzzle wasn't fast, I did complete it with no FWOEs - always a nice FEAT for me on a Friday.

~ Frannie

Thursday, March 2, 2017, Peter Gordon

30:58

The theme deserves, I suppose, a measure of respect, for pointing out such a metrical miracle as EMILYDICKINSON's DOUBLEDACTYL, but I sure had trouble with what was effectively 43A, the last part of the question. It may surprise you to learn that even though I entered the poet's name quite early on, I didn't immediately consider her feet, or is that foots? So, I in turn, have a question for you,

What famous crossword puzzle blogger, who took forever to think of dactyl, could be aptly described with the spondee dumb dumb?  Answer below. :)

It may be that because I was unable to tear a dactyl out of my brain, my feelings towards the puzzle as a whole suffered a bit. It's a solid puzzle with some clue-to-answer exactnesses that I always appreciate such as 34A. Handle adversity (COPE), 35A. Feel some repentance for (RUE), and 42A. Checkup imperative (SAYAH), but that it might have lacked a little VOLTA.

~ Frannie

Wednesday, March 1, 2017, David Phillips

14:33

Frannie here. I'm steering this train for the next 31 days, so hold onto your hats!

It should come as no surprise that I enjoyed today's puzzle theme. My favorite, for its absurdity when imagined, is SNIFFAROUND. Ha! Although, come to think of it, I have seen it done. My second favorite, for reasons probably obvious to the regular readers of this blog, is STUDYABROAD. It works on so many levels. :)

I also thought the non-theme fill was quite robust and enjoyable, with a minimum of abbreviations, even among the copious threes. I particularly liked 19A. One way to stand (PAT) maybe because you don't run into that expression much anymore. Other nice oldies but goodies were 8D. Dagger's partner (CLOAK), 13D. Travels in high style (JETSETS), and 45D. Bellyache (GROUSE) - the last is a winner with great words as both clue and answer. 11D. Small slice of one's workday? (PAPERCUT) entertained.

There were a lot of products and purveyors incorporated into the grid: ALDO, BRANSON, CESSNA, ESPN, GODIVA, IPHONE, TESLAS.

Did anyone else think it was weird that ABBA wasn't all capitalized in the clue for 47D?

~Frannie