.png)
Caribbean island whose name means eel / TUE 11-17-15 / Old French coins / Miami Beach's Eden resort / Style of sleeve
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Constructor: Paula Gamache
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
THEME: INNER / EAR (63A: With 60-Down, what the answer to each starred clue has) — "EAR" embedded in six answers:
Theme answers:
- EDDIE ARCARO (17A: *Hall-of-Fame jockey who won the Triple Crown twice)
- SURFACE AREA (30A: *Six times the length of one side squared, for a cube)
- HORSE AROUND (44A: *Engage in in boisterous play)
- FALSE ARREST (58A: *Unauthorized detention)
- FINE ARTS (11D: *Painting, music, dance, etc.)
- BAREARMS (37D: *What wearers of sleeveless garments have)
Anguilla (/æŋˈɡwɪlə/ ang-GWIL-ə) is a British overseas territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The territory consists of the main island of Anguilla itself, approximately 16 miles (26 km) long by 3 miles (5 km) wide at its widest point, together with a number of much smaller islands and cays with no permanent population. The island's capital is The Valley. The total land area of the territory is 35 square miles (90 km2), with a population of approximately 13,500 (2006 estimate). // Anguilla has become a popular tax haven, having no capital gains, estate, profit or other forms of direct taxation on either individuals or corporations. In April 2011, faced with a mounting deficit, it introduced a 3% "Interim Stabilisation Levy", Anguilla's first form of income tax. (wikipedia)
• • •
I don't believe ACID HEAD is really a thing (12D: Certain druggie). POTHEAD, sure. DEADHEAD, yes. ACIDHEAD??? Sounds dated and/or made-up. Also really hate the word "druggie." What are you, in high school? There's not much else to say. Tomorrow is another day. Hopefully not a D-DAY. See you then.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Save And Share :
91 comments:
Yeah, I never heard of anyone using the term ACIDHEAD either. That felt forced. On the whole this felt like a normal tuesday, no problems.
Wikipedia has it wrong. Anguilla is pronounced ahn-GHEE-ya. The "u" is in there to prevent the "i" from making the "g"-sound into a "huh" sound. Like Picasso's "Guernica" painting, which many people incorrectly pronounce as "GWARE-nuh-cuh." It's "GARE-nih-cuh.
If you want to make the "gwih" or "gweh"-sound in Spanish, you need an umlaut over the u (in both examples).
Paige Turner
Medium for me.
OK Tues., but then it's Tues. I'm kinda with Rex on this one.
ANGUILLA did not immediately leap to mind but it was vaguely familiar.
ACIDHEAD - Dated, but not made up.
More or less liked it.
Have to agree with Rex on this one, on the right side of MEH for me.
I was in St. Maartin many moons ago and don't recall hearing about the nearby island of ANGUILLA, so that one had to be pieced together with crosses, especially since my bathroom drain was filled with hair before the GUNK took over. I also had to EMEND my aMEND. Have seen EDDIE ARCARO race many times, so that was a gimme which fit very nicely with HORSE AROUND.
The more I think about this puzzle, the better I like it.
In all of the history of mankind, within or without high school, nobody has ever uttered the offensively manufactured "acidhead" out loud. It's not a real word.
I'm surprised Rex didn't make more hay out of the EDDIE ARCARO / ROC cross, both apparently big in the '50s. I feel like that combo was tailor made for Saul Bloom from Ocean's Eleven, taking a break from playin' the ponies to solve today's crossword. But for someone UNDER the age of 65, give me a break.
Isn't EDDIEANCARO/ROC an example of an impermissible crossing of proper names?
In the 70s at what was then called Harpur College or SUNY Bimghamton, some students used acid and used the term "acid head" to describe peers who took it regularly. Does that make it a real word?
ACIDHEAD is a real word. A simple Google search confirms that; it is an entry in several on line dictionaries. I didn't like the fill of this puzzle because of all the partials: IFIT, STE, ROC, CHAPEL, VERA, etc. Some of those answers can actually have legitimate clues. And how did it ever become acceptable to use a person's monogram as a crossword answer (RLS)? Can you use any random famous person? Hmmm, did William Faulkner's middle name start with a T?
You know you're an acidhead when you focus hard on the patterns on your wood floor to see if they'll move for you.
@rex -- Having been done once before six years ago in another publication isn't hackneyed to me. If you're saying an imbedded word theme is hackneyed, okay, it is used a lot, but that is not necessarily bad, as "hackneyed" implies. I would have liked an explanation of what is hackneyed here and why. Also, the internet says ACIDHEAD is a thing, though not a big thing.
I thought this was an interesting and enjoyable Tuesday puzzle. We normally get pretty bland answers on Tuesday, but today we have NEOCON, IMDONE, GAMER, ACIDHEAD, FINEARTS, FALSEARREST, RAGLAN, FALSE ARREST, ACIDHEAD, HORSEAROUND, and ANGUILLA -- the last four NYT debuts. The theme was serviceable -- unexciting but solid, with six theme answers. What I didn't like about the puzzle, those 20 three-letter answers, some of them ICK, was made up for by those refreshing longer answers. Good one, Paula, and thank you!
Oops! In making my list of words I liked, I moved a couple to the end to group the NYT debuts, and forgot to erase their first mentions. Sorry about that! And I should have had RHODESIA in that list as well.
Can someone enlighten me on the "pill" answer for "sweater ball?"
If I were a daily crossword blogger (which I am not) , I'd say this is a perfect Tuesday-level puzzle. It's easy, with an easily accessible theme, which beginning solvers should be able handle, and which will give some help for some of the harder downs (ANGUILLA, CASANOVA, RAGLAN, IRIS, EMEND). It has just enough crunchiness to make it harder than a Monday (BRAVA, AMIGO, PILL, HERA, etc.), but also lots of easy clues. I think Rex thinks Monday and Tuesday puzzles should be made for the enjoyment of master solvers, like himself. I don't believe that's the point at all. Lighten up, Rex.
I didn't count all the three letter answers like @Lewis did, but I sure did notice them. ICK.
I wonder who misspelled ANGUILLA...! An EEL ( Hi @Ellen) in Spanish is spelled with only one "L."
Liked PILL as a sweater ball clue.
Agree with @Rex - wish the INNER EAR reveal had been and AHA moment rather than an OH!.
OK Tuesday, just a bit meh for a Gamache puzzle.
Fun easy Tuesday. Had forgotten about Helene Curtis. Of course knew 41 across.
@anon 12:30: There's an umlaut in Spanish?
So I just gotta say, that if you ever wonder what Rex keeps on about with subpar fill, check out the BuzzFeed puzzle, BEQ's puzzles on his site, or even the Washington Post puzzle and do them for a few times. You'll see what he means when he says the NYT is losing ground in being the premiere puzzle in xword world. It took me a couple of weeks of doing those other puzzles to see the new trends in cluing and fill. MUCH different.
It is sort of hard to explain by just pointing out the subpar fill day to day on the NYT. You have to see it in practice to appreciate it. And it takes a few times to get used to it. But suffice to say that xword puzzles are alive and well and, in some places, have graduated beyond the WS era.
Even JF's mini-puzzles occasionally step out of the old-hat box...but by seeing those other puzzles regularly, you'll see what Rex is talking about.
WS, no doubt, is a gifted editor and certainly a big champion of brain games and puzzles...but perhaps it's time for him to step aside and let the younger generation of editors have a go. These puzzles we do here day after day are just old. Old timey, from a previous generation.
Time to move on.
*Btw, I am not a shill for BuzzFeed, in fact I intensely despise the click-bait nature of it, but boy...the xword puzzle, buried deep in their menus, are pretty good. Edgy, even.
I had ACID sEAl for awhile, which I think is a much better answer. Although how that poor seal got hooked on acid, I don't want to know.
I liked it, and I didn't even notice the two down theme answers (I never saw the stars). ACID HEAD sounds like something I've heard and seen a lot over the years. Plus, moving EEL into the clues!
By the way, I've never been to ANGUILLA, and almost put in "Antigua," thinking I must have been wrong about what that meant. Still, the usual rule in British English is to pronounce Spanish-origin words as if they were English--e.g., 'ni-ca-ra-gu-a'-- which is what Wikipedia is suggesting here. I'm willing to believe them.
I thought that Rex would savage this puzzle more than he did. Two natiks as far as I am concerned.
THE C IN 17 A and the A in 62 A if we give a pass to the H in 46A.
I made a mess of the NE. I had tsA for FAA, eeK for ICK and pIA for NIA. So I could see the FINE ARTS in the acid head.
A puzzle to forget.
Thank you @Lewis. You are a real time saver. This is the second day in a row that I agree with everything you wrote.
C'mon, folks. If an old theatre and math geek like me can acknowledge that GUARE/ERDOS is a Natick, then you can admit that EDDIEARCARO/ROC is one too. :-)
I used to be an acidhead. Funny how blinking traffic lights were always synchronized with whatever music I was listening to.
YES. Completely mystifying at 30. Eden ROC isn't even an intelligible phrase.
I just knew Rex would lambaste this one as being ancient although he was not as harsh as I expected. Thought that EDDIEARCARO, who jockeyed when I was young, would come in for a big hit. The Eden Roc was around a long time ago as well. First learned of ANGUILLA on a trip to St. Martin almost 30 years ago. It could be seen as a low lying strip on the horizon. Home to several very high end resorts to which I've never been.
Yuck. I felt like I was trapped in proper name hell. And ARCARO/ROC on a Tuesday? Natick for me, for sure. Just saved it for last and ran the alphabet until the music played.
@Lewis more or less expressed my take on this one.
Rex, you really should spend some quality time in South Florida, esp. the greater Miami area. Any time an answer such as ROC appears in the grid, you express either disdain or ignorance ("WTF"). The Eden Roc hotel, by famed architect Morris Lapidus, is a classic, next door to his Fountainbleu hotel on Collins Avenue. Although both hotels are far too big and corporate for my taste, there are hundreds of varied accomodations to choose from in the vicinity, ranging from elegant to SEEDY. I can't think of a better place to spend January break at SUNY than warm, SUNNY Fl.
@Nancy, thought of you as I filled in ANGUILLA. I chuckled at the clue's EEL reference; very creative way to sneak it in the mix.
I'M DONE. Thanks, PG and WS.
That's the point Rex: "druggie" is dated and "ACIDHEAD" is dated. The clue matches the answer.
Perfectly fine Tuesday, easy and with a 6 theme answers, dense enough.
Since it went so fast, I didn't bother to go to the reveal first. Just looking at the first couple of starred ones, I thought it might have something to do with mathematical shapes or terms: arc, surface, area.
Paula managed to get her token French in: sans, ecus, Ste. and for all I know, raglan.
I stand corrected: Fitzroy Somerset, earl of Raglan.
In @Paula Gamache's puzzle, there is a surprising amount of math and science which I very much appreciated: SURFACE_AREA, GAS (Boyle's Law), AXON, and OCHO (clued as an arithmetic problem, in Spanish).
If you'll forgive a bit of self-indulgence, I draw your attention to @Róbert Bárány, who won the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering that the INNER EAR is responsible for balance and equilibrium. We are often asked whether he is a relative or not, and for a while, we claimed he was. Then, we learned that he invented something called the "Barany chair," which is basically a centrifuge. It spins faster and faster, until the subject becomes nauseous and vomits. At that point, we immediately disowned him.
It was OK by me. A little dull, but I liked Rhodesia and some other words we don't see often. Miss Eyre hasn't shown up for a long time. Hope she's OK.
I'm with @Lewis, the last person to post as I write this. I thought it was a better-than-average Tuesday, a tad more challenging and with some nice answers. I apologize to @mathgent, as I sheepishly admit that I didn't know SURFACE AREA, at least not from the way it was clued. The proper names were few and known to many, I should think. (Why, I imagine even @Hartley 70 knows EDDIE ARCARO. Right?) The theme was yet again another "after the fact" one, not needed to solve, but what the heck. A very smooth early week puzzle anyway.
ACIDHEAD not really a thing? Some would beg to differ.
Given a Gamache, I expected a lot of rich chocolatey goodness, and did feel somewhat let down. IPANA again? Older than AMYTAN. NEOCON? New once, now wince. Even that GEICO ad, D-DAY and Lena HORNE were looking SEEDY. Maybe I've been reading too much Rex, or maybe this virus I'm incubating is making EVERYthing feel old and tired, but some of that ORB RLS ESE SDS GUNK really needs ARREST.
otoh, let's 'EAR it for the theme! Not exploding-fireworks exciting, but works fine 'for a Tuesday', as long as you're DEF to that INNER EAR deformity. Kind of tickled by SURFACEAREA, which seems to show a FACE with two EARs mashed up on one side, quite Picasso-esque. Throw in the HORSE, the partial DIE and the FINE_ART, and maybe there's more to that ANGUILLA/Guernica tie-in than just the pronunciation.
One thing: I would have changed that themer's clue a bit:
'What wearers of sleeveless garments have the right to' = BARE_ARMS
Just to be ornery.
I liked that RAGLAN sweater (esp since the BRR SNO is coming), but worried about CASANOVA. It seems to suggest the ladies just see A GENT as an entree to a New House, but nothing else hits home the same way, does it? Soon as I feel better, I'll get busy making new name-tags for all the RHODESIAN ridgebacks.
Stay well, y'all,and enjoy your Tuesday.
Acid head was a popular term if you went to college during the Vietnam era. The complaints here seem to be more about clues of old. If you're a horse racing fan, Arcaro was easy. In fact, for a M-Th solver like me (not that great obviously) this was one of the easiest puzzles I've seen in the Times in a long while.
Found this a bit tough for a Tuesday thanks to ANGUILLA/ ROC/ EDDIE ARRCARO and too many ICKy 3-letter words. I guess that's the price for a dense theme.
Liked HORSE AROUND, SURFACE AREA, and FALSE ARREST and the clue for NEOCON. And, yes, ACID HEAD is a term from the Timothy Leary era.
IPANA and doubling up on British colonialism. Whoo Hooo.
Thanks @Lewis. I tend to be more with Rex on this one, but there is some good stuff here and without @LMS or @ACME around to point it out there's a real risk of the comments just being a Rexian Echo Chamber. Who needs that? I do agree with you on the "hackneyed" complaint. Every EAR breaks across two words at E, so nice consistency there. Sure, a three letter word with an E in it would have to be an easier one to construct, but still fine for a Tuesday in my book.
Out of curiosity I did a quick check of past Gamache reviews. I had to go back to 2012 to find a Rex review that wasn't wholly negative. Most of the criticisms sound much the same as today's.
I found it enjoyable and easy. BravO!
I forgot to mention - @smalltowndoc - Nice one re:Faulkner
Nobody else gleefully started off the Hall of Fame jockey clue with RONTURCOTTE? Thought I was off to the races with that one...clearly a FALSEARREST, as turns out he only rode one Triple Crown winner, but still fun with HORSEAROUND. Also had TIMEX before ROLEX, DOTS before DAHS (really? thought Morse was just dots and dashes), and some other false starts I don't remember, so ended up enjoying getting through this one. ANGUILLA, CASANOVA, BAREARMS kind of fun...haven't done these long enough to worry about anything being hackneyed yet...
URLS before pswine.
Naticked at EDDIEARCARO/ROC, an annoying end to a tedious exercise.
Not a memorable Tuesday, I must admit. The only interesting thing to me was the proper pronunciation of the island, thanks to @Paige, which led me to this...http://youtu.be/RZawm7l1juQ
He's on YouTube...he must be right...
The cloudy history of its "discovery" doesn't help much. Since the French figure so prominently, one would thing that the French pronunciation, where the "LL" becomes a "y", but then where does the "a" come from? The French word is ANGUILLe.
Makes more sense that it is a British corruption of the French.
Maybe I'll research further by going onsite for a week or two in February.
I hope some of our clever bloggers find some cool reasons why I should admire this puzzle more.
Thanks Ms. Gamache...I did really like that I was able to guess the theme after only 2 entries, and guess the revealer without seeing the revealer clues. That made me feel smart.
@Lewis...lol...I did a double-take on your post, thinking you were seeing if we were really paying attention with that Tom Cruz moment...!
Hi Jp, The term was used at one time for people who where using LSD. Depends on how old you are. In my time in was a common term.
Sorry but it was a common term for people using LSD. Depending on your age and memory.
After seeing the EARS in EDDIE ARCARO and FINE ARTS, I tried to think of what the reveal would be for hidden EARS but couldn't come up with INNER. I thought the theme and reveal were a little wan compared to the rest: CASANOVA, ANGUILLA, RHODESIA, CHAPEL, VIOLAS, RAGLAN. I'm old enough to remember the Eden ROC, but I thought it was pretty arcane for a Tuesday.
Enjoyed this puzzle but was thrown off with the word for bits of Morse code. There are dots and dashes. What is dahs? Never heard it used about Morse code. Can some one clarify that for me.
I'm with Rex on this one. I never heard of Anguilla but got it from the crosses and like it as an entry. As always for me, I pay no attention to themes unless there is some amusement or information embedded in the theme. Acidhead is apparently a real word but, I went to college in the late 60's early 70's and, if it was used back then, it was not commonly used. The effect of lsd is powerful enough that even people that used a myriad of drugs would not take lsd more than a few times a month because most people cannot do everyday life activities while under the influence of that drug. So, I have no recollection of anyone being called an acidhead. Overall, a decent Tuesday puzzle;
@mac...a new mac has joined the crowd???? when all those little bumps appear on your sweater, it's called pills or pilling
@mac...a new mac has joined the crowd???? when all those little bumps appear on your sweater, it's called pills or pilling
DDAY two days in a row, though.
I knew it was EDDIE somebody but I naticked at ROC.
ACIDHEAD, common term if you're from the day, the old day. I went to a Jimi Hendrix concert high on acid. I never ever dropped a tab again.
The puzzle was fine for a Tuesday but maybe because I am use to the old trends in cluing. The NYT is the only puzzle I do. Thanks, @NCA President, I'll check out the Washington Post.
I enjoyed it.
One nitpick: Read electronically - scan - is wrong.
If this refers to what the machine is doing, the machine is copying of an image from paper to electronic form, not reading. If this is referring to what a human is doing, the act of reading is no different and may or may not include scanning.
A product not made in the US since the 1970s crossing a type of sleeve. On a Tuesday. Yuk.
Way faster and easier than yesterday. Why? because the puzzle skewed so old ACID HEAD was pretty common back in the day. Today, I would not know where to score a tab. I used to read about EDDIE ARCARO all the time. And I had a friend who knew Morse Code (DAHs are how you verbalize the dash: the dot is pronounced DIT). The most modern clue had to do with the NEO-Cons.
I thought it was a fine puzzle, and a clever theme.
Nice little Tuesday time-killer. Thanks to @mac for letting me know it wasn't just me -- and to @chefbea for explaining sweater pills.
Ha! No problem with EDDIEARCARO or ROC. Loved those ponies when they ran at Hialeah!
In case anyone worried about my comparing Ipana and Amy Tan:
Ipana was introduced in 1901, reached peak market penetration in N. America in the 1950s, when Amy Tan (her self) was just getting started. Due to lack of interest, Ipana was withdrawn from the American market and Bristol-Myers abandoned personal care to concentrated only on drugs over a decade before Joy Luck Club was published.
Ipana is still sold in other countries, however, and apparently is currently a leading toothpaste brand in Turkey. I don't have numbers on how Amy Tan is doing in Turkey, but will try to brush up.
Meant to add:
Just for clarification, I have not a single thing against 'old': I'm delighted to listen to the Brandenburg Concertos any number of times, even if only to discern why VIOLAs are to be singled out. It's just that toothpaste brands have lost a lot of their old lustre for me.
I'm just not that enamelled of them any molar.
Those little fuzz balls that form on a well worn sweater are called pills.
@Anonymous 10:51 -- Morse code is sometimes described as "dits" and "dahs," in addition to the printed dots and dashes.
Enjoyed the puzzle--thanks P.G.
How come no one mentioned "dah"??? I thought Morse code consisted of dots and dashes? Also didn't care for "neocon".
I liked this puzzle 'cept for that.
Endicott Hall-- mid-70's. Acid head is definitely a real phrase.
International Morse Code
Hi Mac, When the material in the garment for some reason balls up its called pilling. Where the name came from I haven't got a clue.
DNF once again, at the ROC/ARCARO cross. Eden ROC? What?
Otherwise, I liked this puzzle. The reveal may have been somewhat clunky but with six theme answers, I thought it was well done. The NE and my DNF AREA were the biggest hitches - I popped TSA in at 11A so that needed fixing. ALSO I was misdirected at 33A where I lost track of the clue wording and tried to put baLL there but SPREE made that into PILL so no problem. I was glad to get a knitting reference at RAGLAN, which is a nice sleeve style variation to knit.
I see there's a reference to the beach where all the good surfers go - the SURF ACE AREA.
No evidence of the rainbow goddess here today, just steady rain, probably an inch by now, with no end in sight.
Thanks, Ms. Gamache, for a pleasant Tuesday.
A "pill" forms on your sweater as you move around. The fibers clump up and form an unsightly blob.
re: IPANA --
Brush-a, Brush-a, Brush-a ...
Use the new Ipana ...
Brush-a, Brush -a, Brush-a ...
It's go - o - o - d ...
For your tee - eeth!
(Remember Bucky Beaver?)
Rex, why the map of Hope, AR?
The puzzle would have been more clever if EAR had been in the middle of the grid and INNER had crossed it. Otherwise OK.
Guillaume
Gwee-lah-owe-may (Italian) or Ghee-yome (French)?
Gwee-yome?
Après les Séparatistes, à Montréal, "Guy Street" est devenu la Rue "Ghee".
Anguilla is correctly spelled with two l's in Italian. The use of the Italiam spelling was probably just an arbitrary choice.
Lighten up "Rex"!
You can get a little electric shaver to remove those pesky PILLs from your sweater.
I actually remember hearing the term, "ACIDHEAD" used in the 60s...
At the very least, this should ring a bell (and bring Eden Roc at least into the seventies for those non-Miamians):
A tower room at Eden Roc
His golf at noon for free
-"Brooklyn" by Steely Dan
I can remember Irvine Welsh using the word "ACIDHEAD" in some of his writing.
@Z -- It's interesting that your research shows that Rex always pans Paula Gamache. (I wouldn't have the patience to go researching such a thing. So time-consuming, I should think and I frankly don't care all that much.) But, if true, I might have an explanation. A couple of years ago, I sent something to Will for consideration in the Times. (It wasn't a crossword; I can't construct those; it was a different sort of puzzle.) The rejection letter came from Paula Gamache, who explained that Will often turns over puzzle submissions to her for consideration. She made it clear that Will had not even looked at it. So if Rex and Will don't get along, which many people here are forever commenting on, and if Rex knows that Paula functions as Will's assistant and that they're friends, that might explain his negative reviews of her work.
Of course it's also possible that he just doesn't like her puzzles.
Fairly sure Anon. @ 12:30 is correct: in Spanish GI is "hee" and GE is "heh" but GA is "gah" and GO is "go." The u in GUI and GUE is silent and only signals that the g is hard.
Does "fill" mean the words that aren't part of the theme?
Who remembers Ipana toothpaste (62A)? Never heard of it. Guess I'm not as old as I thought.
Where oh where is Rex???
I am worried.
Good morning @jedlevine! Let's talk Turkey.
(hits head against wall)
@Martel M, any particular aftershave recommended?
L. Finger
@Nancy...our friend @Z spent about 30 seconds, I wager, to help enlighten us.
At the end of each puzzle review, Rex has a link with the constructor!s name. Click that link, and you get every review for that constructor.
It's a feature of the blogging platform he uses that if he marks a thing as a "tag", all things with that tag are instantly grouped.
hey...anyone know where the wednesday review is?
never heard of sweater ball
GAMER SPREE
PSST, AMIGO, that CASANOVA’s a PILL, like FINEARTS are his charms,
He’ll HORSEAROUND for a thrill, tell girls they’ve the right to BAREARMS.
--- EDDIEARCARO
C’mon all you supposed brainiacs, EDDIEARCARO is a gimme. He could sure get a HORSEAROUND the track. Sorry that you’ve lived in your individual silos all this time.
That SE corner sure got all feminine with a couple of VIOLAS, HELENE, HERA HORNE, and IRIS all intermingled and just touching CASANOVA’s bottom. Now that paints a picture.
Today’s yeah baby candidate is NIA Vardalos, when she’s not in her “comfortable” state.
Zipped through this puz so fast that the revealer was the aha moment. Not too bad IMO. IMDONE.
I've always said "BRAVA!" to PG puzzles. Until now. This time she forgot to pull the plug and let all the GUNK drain away. My goodness: RLS crossing URLS? DDAY FAA AKA? ICK! IFIT SNO good, EMEND it!
The almost perfect natick at NEOCO_ and that whatever island that nobody's been to was saved by a guess. I've never heard "neoconservative" shortened before, but was hoping that was it. It was. An ugly cross, though.
@anon 7:23: If your sweaters don't PILL--form little hard balls of fabric--after washing, let me know where you bought them. Socks too; they're even worse. Man, "Sock ball" would have been a mean clue; everyone would be thinking HOP but wonder about the extra square...
I agree the bar for the theme was set to an un-limbo-able level. I hate to seE A Really good constructor go downhill like this. To paraphrase the queen, wE ARe not amused. I hate to bE A Ranter, but you see how easy it is to find INNER EARs-which I agree should have been on one line, and clued anatomically:..."or a hint to the starred clues." It may not quite have been FINEART, but it would have forestalled another Peppermint Patty Special: D-. Sorry, sir.
Not as bad as all that, @Spacwy. For a Tuesday, it filled the bill, in my opinion.
Interesting tidbit from @Nancy about PG being an assistant to WS, and therefore having to bear the brunt of OFL's criticism by association.
Regarding the revealer, it might have been a little more elegant if EAR had crossed INNER. Gosh, I made a suggestion about construction, something about which I know nothing. But, what the hey, I'm just down here in syndiland, throwing stuff out, not being a robot, having fun.
First write over was ROLEX over timEX. (Guess which one I wear.) Second was to get EDDIEARCARO's name spelled right. (I bet he wears a ROLEX.)
Last to fill was the ANGUILLA/GUNK cross. GUNK?
For those reasons, a good, slightly on the challenging side Tuesday.
Oops. I guess I missed Arcaro's obit. Anyhow, isn't a two-time triple crown winner immortal?
Post a Comment