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Relative difficulty: Medium (solved Downs-only)
Theme answers:
- ONE-UP (17A: *Beat by a little, as in joke-telling) ("UP" has "ONE" syllable)
- TWO-TIMING (18A: *Unfaithful to, as a lover) ("TIMING" has "TWO" syllables)
- THREE MUSKETEERS (31A: *Chocolate bar named for a group of literary swordsmen) ("MUSKETEERS" has "THREE" syllables)
- FOUR-DIMENSIONAL (48A: *Like a space measured by length, width, depth and time) ("DIMENSIONAL" has "FOUR" syllables)
Adrian Malik Fenty (born December 6, 1970) is an American politician who served as the mayor of the District of Columbia from 2007 to 2011.A Washington, D.C. native, Fenty graduated from Oberlin College and Howard University Law School, then served for six years on the D.C. Council. He served one term as D.C. mayor and lost his bid for reelection at the primary level to his eventual successor, Democrat Vincent C. Gray. Though Fenty won the Republican mayoral primary as a write-in candidate, he declined the Republican nomination and said he would likely not seek elected office again.
Since leaving office, Fenty has become a special advisor to the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and as a member of the business development team at the law firm Perkins Coie. Fenty has held advisory and business development roles with Rosetta Stone, Everfi, and Capgemini. He has served on the boards of directors at two nonprofits: Genesys Works-Bay Area and Fight for Children. He has served as a paid speaker, part-time college professor, and adviser for state and local governments with an information technology consulting firm. (wikipedia)
• • •
[Robyn Rihanna Fenty]
As for the theme itself, the revealer is a huge anti-climax. Just ... SYLLABLES? No clever turn of phrase, no fun wordplay, just ... a tediously long clue explaining how SYLLABLES relates to the answers to the starred clues. My favorite ("favorite") part of the Downs-only solve was getting the ONE TWO THREE FOUR part and writing in FIVE at the beginning of the final themer ... only to realize later that it was the revealer (i.e. SYLLABLES). Bah. FOUR-DIMENSIONAL is a completely arbitrary FOUR-answer. I mean, any number can go before DIMENSIONAL (well, any number from ONE to FOUR). Not FOUR-specific enough (whereas the other numbers are all unique to their particular phrases; that is, you can't very well TWO-UP someone, there's no ONE MUSKETEER, and even the most ambitious lothario probably isn't FOUR-TIMING anyone. The themer placement is also awkward and wonky. There are three themers up top but only one below. Yes, there's a revealer, but there's no themer to balance out ONE-UP—how could there be, give that it's only five letters long, and good luck getting FIVE *plus* a five-syllable word to fit *anywhere* in the grid, let alone in a five-letter space. The asymmetricality is mildly jarring. GONZO is just sitting there like, "Hey, don't look at me, nobody said anything to me about any theme. They just said 'GONZO, show up at 64-Across at such and such a time and don't ask no questions,' and that's what I did. You want me to do some theme stuff, that's gonna cost extra. GONZO only looks out for one guy: GONZO!"
Oof, "ERM." That is one of those hesitation representations that just looks Terrible when written out. I didn't even see it until now (Downs-only solving saved me from a lot of grief today ... well, it saved me from ADRIAN and "ERM" anyway). Otherwise, the fill seems fine. Solid. Unobjectionable. Solving Downs-only proved tricky in many places, but no such that I ever got truly stuck. Worst hang-up was having "I'M ON IT!" for "I GOT IT!" at 1D: "Let me handle this!" You can see how many letters those two equally plausible answers have in common. And I would've left "I'M ON IT!" too if NSP hadn't been staring at me like, "Come on, you know I'm not right. Fix me!" (20A: Recipe meas. = TSP.). I thought [Eye, slangily] was going to be a very (something like OGLE), so PEEPER took a bit of thought (3D: Eye, slangily). Wasn't sure if it was gonna be UVEA or IRIS (29D: Part of the eye). Somehow managed to spell Uzo ADUBA's name correctly the first time, hallelujah! Had LIED TO before I had MISLED (49D: Wasn't honest with). And just trusted that LEMONS was gonna have that "S" on the end, despite the clue not clearly indicating it (52D: Sour fruit).
The worst part of the puzzle for me was having a dollop of whipped cream (my favorite food) referred to as a GOB (64D: Lump, as of whipped cream). GOB is a disgusting word that should only be applied to disgusting things, not the miraculous beauty that is whipped cream. GOB? Why would you refer to anything you actually wanted people to eat as a GOB? So easy to just make GOB into GOD and thereby get rid of that atrocious word altogether. Some words just rub me the wrong way (clearly). See you tomorrow!
Solving down clues like Rex, I had a bit tougher time than him. I had the grid almost finished except for Mr/Ms Uzo ADUBA who with AD--A crossing -NI and BI- could be a lot of things: ADADA, ADACA, ADUCA. When I didn't get the happy pencil I tried many variations there with no luck. Turns out like Rex, my other problem was IM ON IT instead of I GOT IT. Mr MEESE led me astray.
ReplyDeleteTypeovers: LIED TO before MISLED and OID crossing VAPOR. Also, for 8 down glanced at the clue and thought it said "Jacket with a name derived from fruit" (I need new glasses.)
[Spelling Bee: Sun 0. @Roo from yd, my Stats say 152 QBs in 200 puzzles... I thought it would be higher! I'm curious what puzzlehoarder's is.]
For those who had trouble with DIC yesterday, 27D today (DEC) is pronounced desh.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably somewhat rare for anagrams to cross, as SPAT and PSAT do. Only @Lewis would know for sure. And he probably has a name for the phenomenon. Cranagrams?
I'm thinking that a nice little update of a well-known Philip Wylie book might be titled "A generation of VAPERs".
I think myMom was the world's greatest detective. I once snatched a cookie and a single CRUMBLED her to me.
Agree with @Rex on the revealer and on GONZO, although anything that makes me think of Hunter S. Thompson is a joy.
I beg to differ on Dec., I was taught that such abbreviations are "pronounced" as the full word.
DeleteMedium tough except for tracking down a couple of typos. ADRIAN/ADUBA is a potential Natick which occurs “where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known” (Rex Parker), however, the A is pretty guessable.
ReplyDeleteI’m kinda with @Rex on this one, didn’t hate it.
Would an Arrested Development clue work for GOB on a Monday?
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #886 was on the easy side for a Croce with the exception of the NE corner where I had multiple erasures. Good luck!
“eldest bluth child” is fairer than claiming lumps are in whipped cream
DeleteThe Adrian that Should Not Be In This Puzzle crossing two other names definitely did not help. Otherwise pretty fun, just got tripped up for a bit in the Gonzo’s Corner
ReplyDeleteThere we are. I think Orion is the best constellation. The Big Dipper is #2 in my book.
ReplyDeleteAnd I will take a GOB of whipped cream anytime a pumpkin pie is lurking about.
Tee-Hee: Anaïs's ill-fitting manziere: LAME NIN BRA.
Uniclues:
1 Suggest congressman take a two-year break.
2 Sonata celebrating honk street.
3 Public relation campaign advocating for the cool allure of frozen transportation.
4 Purple poetry.
5 Desire to smell a good Jewish boy.
6 Tom fessed up under cross.
7 Why the plane crashed into the mountain.
8 Popular parka people.
9 Aslan.
10 Hurrying to buy bulbs online.
1 IMPLY AWAY TERM
2 GEESE LANE OPUS
3 ICE BOAT HIP ADS (~)
4 GONZO SYLLABLES (~)
5 MENSCH ODOR YEN
6 PEEPER CRUMBLED
7 ALTITUDE MISLED
8 ANORAK FAN BASES
9 NARNIA EPIC HERO (~)
10 AMAZON IRIS RUN (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Dominatrix job description. LABOR OF LOVE: SWAT BUMS.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
ReplyDeleteUzo ADUBA was a WOE for me. Wanted the start of 48 across to be FOUR tIME (something) and the end to be profesSIONAL. Obviously, that didn't work. I "cheated" and read the clue and all became clear.
@Rex: "any number can go before DIMENSIONAL (well, any number from ONE to FOUR)". Current versions of String Theory require ten dimensions, while some versions call for 11 or even 26.
What did I do with my life before the word, "NATICK" found its way into my vocabulary?
ReplyDeleteADRIAN/ADUBA...erm...
Interesting puzzle. Not quite as easy as most Mondays. The theme was well thought out, but I didn't get it until after the puzzle was solved.
ReplyDelete1. For no obvious reason I'm reading Ready Player One, so it was nice to see ANORAK.
ReplyDelete2. THREE MUSKETEERS popped off just a few letters.
3. lIedto before MISLED, which my mother enjoyed pronouncing my-zled
4. Feta cheese is de rigeur in a Greek salad and it fit, so I put it in. Solving d.o., so COdA looked ok. Had CAFE and ODOR; thought 42A might be ADieus, then remembered ADUBo, had to fix that last letter. No idea on the ADRIAN guy but got him anyway.
5. Didn't understand revealer on first read, so ignored it and came here.
Took a little longer for a Monday, but that's why we solve d.o., to make it last!
I *knew* I didn't know how to spell ADUBA but the first letter I knew was an A, which helped with ADRIAN. Didn't even notice the relative dearth of themers in the bottom until @Rex pointed it out--it certainly didn't bother me the way it does him. The theme did what it said, no more, no less. Medium for a Monday for sure.
ReplyDeleteYesterday was easy for a Sunday and this one skewed difficult for a Monday, so apparently it all evens out eventually.
ReplyDeleteAs intuitive as it feels, I believe we could have a whole side debate as to whether time is in fact the FOURth DIMENSION. Something about the math not working with time - I don’t recall the specifics.
Nice to see the lovely and humorous Miss Nora EPHRON return after quite a hiatus.
Loads of 3s and 4s in this grid make for a clunky solve. Rex nails the blahness of the theme - nothing wrong with it but another day of questioning whether this is the best they could come up with.
ReplyDeleteI do like the ONE and TWO placement in relation to the spanning THREE and FOUR. EPIC HERO, ICE BOAT and LEMONS are solid.
A flat Monday morning solve.
A few weeks ago I watched a wonderful documentary on Johnny Rivers and the Wrecking Crew and that entire west coast scene in the 60s. This one was featured prominently and became the springboard for a string of Jimmy Webb hits
Super easy. Loved Two Timing. You can just hear it in a 1950s semi-comical western when the high-spirited dance hall broad face slaps the semi-comical cowpoke and says, "You Two-Timing son of wagon wheel!" Or some other Bad Name like that. And then a bar fight breaks out to the sound of the piano.
ReplyDeleteAdrian was fair because it Crumbled with the crosses.
No junk here, all good.
@RP, From yesterday, didn't see the Gladys Knight version! Thanks
@jae, Your Gob clue would've been great. I've seen the whole series twice.
This was a perfect candidate for the Guess The Revealer game I like to play, where I fill in the puzzle except for the revealer, don’t read the clue for it, and try to figure out what it is. It creates an extra layer of riddle that makes the puzzle more compelling.
ReplyDeleteSo, there I was looking at the ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR theme answers, wrestling my brain, trying to find some connection anywhere. Totally stymied. I went to step two – read the clue to the revealer, which led me to look at what was counted in the second word of each theme answer.
At first, I thought it was vowels, because that worked for the first two theme answers. But no. Nor did consonants work. When SYLLABLES finally hit me, well, I have to say, that was one sweet I GOT IT moment. And right after the spontaneous “Hah!” and “Aha!” it wrought, my whole being was flooded with praise for what hits me as a most original and splendid theme, and filled with respect and gratitude for being so superbly outwitted.
The cherry on top was when I saw GONZO and BEANS in that little SE corner, and my brain shouted “Garbanzo!”
Lovely touch, Adam, stacking three NYT answer debuts VAPER, FOUR DIMENSIONAL, and BAD NAME. But your theme especially hit my happy button. This was, for me, one terrific Monday puzzle. Thank you for making it!
@egs -- Oh, terrific catch! No, I don't track that, nor do I track when palindromes touch, such as NIN and BIB today.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, I got about 60-65% done downs-only and once again I was faced with too many plausible across possibilities to crack it. So once again I looked at some across clues and zip boom it’s done. Maybe the trick is to really experiment with those across possibilities, but I get impatient because Monday.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, pretty much what Rex said.
After however many years of solving, I have at least remembered that Uzo's name begins with an A-D, although I needed crosses for the rest of the name. On the other hand, ADRIAN was a gimme. The worst example of a BAD NAME in the grid for me today was FREDO (? or is that FRED O.?).
ReplyDeleteKitshef
DeleteFredo common nickname for Alfredo in Italian. The character had immigrant parents and got an Italian nickname. Quite common in the era in question.
Maybe I misunderstood your comment. The character was a bad person ( a mobster and a traitor)?
An awful name as an answer?
The name itself is awful?
While the character was a bad one, I don’t think the answer was that obscure, famous movie and mob hit scene and all.
And to me Fredo is a fine nickname
(Perhaps over sensitive Italian American here).
Well, the guest bloggers have gone home and our favorite grumpy primate is back. Have to disagree, I thought this was a just right Monday for newer solvers and like @Lewis, found the revealer to be a nice surprise. Agree with everyone that the ADRIAN/ADUBA cross was unfortunate but otherwise no unknowns. And how cool must it be for Mr. ADUBA to have two names that are so crossworthy?
ReplyDeleteToday I learned where ANORAK comes from. Nice to know.
And thanks to @Smith, as I too have heard "my-zled" for MISLED but couldn't decide how to spell it. Nice job there.
Numerous moo-cows wandering around. Maybe we'll see which one(s) M&A likes best.
I liked your Monday just fine, AW, and found it A Worthy example of Mondayness. Thanks for all the fun.
Aduba is a woman.
DeleteCroce’s Freestyle #886 was easy (for a Croce), although I did finish with an error at the 5D/20A cross.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteToo bad the Revealer and GONZO couldn't have been switched, then the Revealer would've been GONZO SYLLABLES, which would've tied the Theme together a bit tighter.
Fun puz for a Monday. Took me a bit longer than normal for a MonPuz. Had VAPoR in first, but oID didn't look right. Changed it to the E, but still no Happy Music. Looked over grid, the ole typo rearing its ugly head at HErL for HEEL. Fat finger typo.
Old McDonald refrains (if sing two verses)?
FIVE EIEIOS.
Har.
Happy Monday (if there is such a thing...)
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
I find it hard to hate any puzzle that has ORION in it, who is my dog, and a very good one he is. But, just adjacent to that, 71a. Baked ____ (side dish). Side dish? Baked beans are a main course around here, and in most of the world, I imagine. But then maybe most NYTimes readers eat steak for breakfast? Fah. I can afford to maybe put some bacon in my beans, OR I can afford to read the Times in the morning. Not both.
ReplyDeleteSo much for “baby steps” Monday…..A DC Mayor no one has heard of and ERM…..OUT OF MY LEAGUE
ReplyDeleteAgree. whipped cream is a dollop.
ReplyDeleteFREDO’s sister played ADRIAN in another ‘70s Best Picture winner. BTW, traitorous may be technically accurate but it’s a little more nuanced than that. Not the adjective I would use to describe Freddie.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was one of the easier Mondays in recent memory, not solving downs-only. I didn’t know this ADRIAN but got him easily from crosses, and didn’t even see ERM. Although if you turn on the English subtitles for British TV shows (as those of us with hearing issues might do), you will have seen this “word”. I didn’t know (actually didn’t remember) the term GONZO journalism, but again, crosses. The theme was very easy and the revealer came from…crosses.
ReplyDeleteSo, more power to you, downs-only people! But I love my easy two-way Monday solving!
A crosswords-in-general comment.
ReplyDeleteThere was a piece in yesterday’s Times about the value of fostering intergenerational understanding by bringing older and younger people together – which results in benefits for both.
I see that in crosswords. When I solve a puzzle made by one in their teens or 20’s, say, it provides a glimpse into the world as they see it and into the way they think. I find that so enriching; it broadens the way I see things.
In the puzzle comments, I often hear the olds complaining about puzzles by the youngs, and vice versa, and it makes me sad. This promotes us-them thinking and begets tension and stress.
Thing is, when unfamiliar not-part-of-my-generation words appear in a grid, the Times puzzle team is so good, that they make sure that these answers are fairly crossed.
These words can be bridges rather than moats. They, in my view, are precious gifts, and may they continue!
@Lewis - thank you for saying this. I work with teens and, the older I get (late 40s now), the more I appreciate the window into a whole ‘nother world of pop culture, wide-eyed optimism, and more! My kids at school are also from majority immigrant families, so the cultural learnings are daily for me. Love that the NYTXW has given us all access to those same age and cultural windows, especially these past few years.
DeleteNot a Yiddish expert by any means, but not a good definition of "mensch". So much more to it than merely being "good natured".
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 9:32 AM
DeleteBut crossword clues are called clues for a reason. It is a puzzle after all. Clues are hints not definitions. As said on this blog, close enough for crosswords.
Adrian Beltre was just voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York on the first ballot with 95.1% of the votes! In the 1936 inaugural class "The Sultan of Swat" and "The Flying Dutchman" garnered the same percentage!
ReplyDeleteWell, ADRIAN, a normally spelled name, was guessable even if ADUBA wasn't. So I don't think it's really Natick territory we're in.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, I thought this was pretty smooth -- and with a theme I quite liked. It's one I'd give to a novice solver: Interesting enough to engage the brain and require thinking, but without being particularly hard. Nice Monday.
I'm with you on that Lewis. I feel very fortunate to work with the entire age spectrum. So much to learn from everyone.
ReplyDeleteThis felt a little tougher than the easiest Mondays, but no real struggles.
The Misled video from 1984 is about the worst thing I've seen by Kool & the Gang. I like their disco era offerings, and their Funk era in the '70s is classic. Props to them for keeping up with the times, I guess, and not just riding the same stuff off into the sunset.
@burtonkd 10:17 – I thought of Kool & the Gang's MISLED after I finished the puzzle – I remembered kind of liking the song back in 1985, so I googled it on YouTube and came across that video. It really is awful. The song seems just okay now.
DeleteNancy _ I wish you had a blog!
ReplyDeleteI decided to try my hand at solving downs-only for the first time ever, and wow… I don’t think this was the day to try. Felt more like a Wednesday than a Monday, for some of the reasons @Rex and others mentioned. Also, downs-only allowed me to put in ViPER for 45A, and I couldn’t believe that first vowel could be anything else, so I was wracking my brain with 40D. OnUS on 16A, NBa on 22A, and ?OST on 28A meant I couldn’t see my way to a solution for 11D [Achilles or Aeneas].
ReplyDeleteFinally got ~85% of the way through (over 17 minutes in, ugh) and had to check the Across clues to fill in all the missing boxes. The best thing about my downs-only experiment was how much more deeply I appreciate the Across clues now!
I'm sorry squire I gobbed on your carpet
ReplyDeleteGosh, what a lovely thing to say, @BobL! Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteThe reveal got a genuine "Wow" out of me - I never saw it coming and I thought it was a very clever twist. And I thought the theme answers were lively, too. On the difficulty front, I found the top more than Monday-easy and was thinking it could be a good puzzle for my spouse, who has eased into solving the daily Mini. But then we got into some rough proper name territory, so I mentally rescinded my not-yet-made recommendation - for someone new to the regular puzzle, ADRIAN, ADUBA, EPHRON, RENE, and even NIN could be ONE BAD NAME too many.
ReplyDelete@pabloinnh, I'm not sure if "Mr. Aduba" might have been a typo, but Uzo Aduba is an actress.
Mathematically there can be any number of dimensions; references to "n-dimensional space" are not uncommon. And militarily there can be any number of musketeers, although specifying a candy bar does limit it.
ReplyDeleteI reacted the way Lewis did -- saying ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR couldn't be all there was, but not figuring it out until I saw the revealer, then being pleasantly surprised.
I do think fruit is an acceptable plural. I could go to the store specifically to get 'fruit' or more specifically to get 'LEMONS.'
I agree with Anon (9:32) about MENSCH. It's deeper than good-hearted. I just googled it and found: a person of integrity and honor. That comes closer, IMO.
ReplyDeleteAND @Lewis! -- beautifully said, about the generations.
I was reading about basketballer Sabrina Ionescu, who acquitted herself very well shooting 3-pointers against Steph Curry on Saturday. Her fiance is a football player named Hroniss Grasu. There's a name made for Saturday grids. He, like Sabrina, is of Romanian descent. Grasu, unfortunately, means fat man.
This was a little bit more difficult than the usual Monday - a good thing!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Adam :)
@cCarola-Not a typo, just a mistake based on a first name ending in "o" and a total ignorance of this kind of pop culture. Thanks for the correction and I'll do some research before making any further assumptions of this kind.
ReplyDelete@Nancy at 9:40: You've said just what I was thinking about this puzzle. A very nice Monday indeed.
ReplyDeleteADRIAN and ERM (ugh) ended my acrosses-only attempt.
ReplyDeleteA GOB of BEANS.
This puzzle was fine for a Monday, right in my average time, with the only hold-up being my mis-entry of CArpIS making EPIC HERO try to be some weird ancient Greek country I was ignorant of. EPHRON got that all turned right.
ReplyDeleteI never even looked at GONZO, wondering if it was part of the theme, because I never noticed that ONE UP was a theme answer, thus I never saw the need for theme symmetry down in the SE. I did get a kick out of Rex's GONZO rant so that was fun.
I wasn't offended by the use of GOB to refer to whipped cream but I did wrinkle my nose at it. And I have yet to hear anyone hesitate in speech by sounding like ERM (I always think "worm" when I see ERM). But I know it's found in crosswords so there was no hesitation in splatzing it in the grid.
Thanks, Adam Wagner, for the Monday syllable count.
Pretty good MonPuz theme idea. Different. Like different.
ReplyDeleteSmoooth MonPuz solvequest, other than the dreaded ADRIAN/ADUBA crossin. I saved that "A" square of mystery until the final entry. M&A's usual "When in doubt, enter a U" strategy didn't apply there, due to ADRIUN not lookin at all right. {Guessed the "A" correctly, after precious nanoseconds spent runnin the alphabet.]
staff weeject pick: EID. They can run with it, but they can't eid it. Better clue: {Duck the head??} = EID (er).
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Astronomical belt wearer} = ORION. M&A somewhat recently took an astronomy course at his fave Wisconsin lodge … and the star wearin-apparel stuff was well-covered. honrable mention to {___-Cola} = COCA, btw -- equally eazy-E, even for a Dr. Pepper devotee.
Other fave stuff: GONZO. AMAZON. EPICHERO. MENSCH. Nora EPHRON darlin. PSST & PSAT [start of a possible verb conjugation?]
Congratz to VAPER on its smoky debut.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Wagner dude. Wonderfully 4-D silly-bully.
Masked & Anonymo5Us
M&A makes a NYTPuz! (in a way) …
**gruntz**
Was the wee one asking for WAWA wearing a BIB to catch a GOB of BEANS that got SPAT out?
ReplyDeleteI think there is an ongoing contest among theoreticians to see who can come up with the most outlandish number of dimensions and get people to doubt their perception of reality and buy into it. Gaslighting at a high level indeed. FOUR DIMENSIONAL, ha! There are only two dimensions, space and time. All else is sophistry, I say, sophistry!
@Sailor 12:25, I've been meaning to ask, is that the San Diego Coronado bridge in the background of your avatar?
N-DIMENSIONAL is also not uncommon, although understandably rare in English Lit.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really difficult and unpleasant solve. Nothing like a Monday.
ReplyDeleteNot xword related, but why do musketeers duel with swords? Nary a musket to be seen!
ReplyDelete‘Erm’ is just how ‘Um’ is spelled in British English (the ‘r’ isn’t pronounced), and so clue doesn’t really work
ReplyDelete"ERM" must be what Ms. Bombeck's friends called her.
ReplyDeleteThis space cowboy can't knock a puzzle with FOURDIMENSIONAL in it. (BTW, plan for the 4/8 eclipse--a good one!)
Theme does its job, a bit two-dimensional for a Monday, but all the crosses BEFAIR, even if the revealer clue is awkwardly long.
Not bad fill, either, ERM excepted. Birdie.
Wordle par, but I gotta say they're getting tougher. Who'd think of this word as lower case? Interesting that SALLY was my FO[U]RTH guess.
Okay theme. But nothing “wow”. Agree with Rex on GOB. Had EPICgods before EPICHEROS not noticing the clue indicated the singular until after. Lots of bad fill: TSP MSG, ERM, DEC, EID, LSU, PSST. The crossing of ADRIAN and ADUBA was also pretty bad as well as being way beyond the Monday-level of difficulty. Possibly a Natick?
ReplyDeleteA tad more difficult than the average Monday, but that did not diminish the joy of the solve for me. It all added up to fun.
ReplyDeleteDiana, LIW
Bit of a Natick with ADRIAN and ADUBA (pour moi)
Correction. Had EPICgods before EPICHERO.
ReplyDeleteSHE ADDS UP
ReplyDeleteFREDO's A TWOTIMING LIAR,
can't BEFAIR, YET so LAME,
no HERO, MISLED by desire,
gives A HEEL A BADNAME.
--- ADRIAN LANE
I loved the answer GOB, because I could picture myself putting gobs and gobs and gobs of whipped cream on pumpkin pie, also chocolate, rice, and tapioca pudding. The last two also need some nutmeg or cinnamon sprinkled on top. Perhaps both.
ReplyDeleteI didn't recall Adrian Fenty, but do remember that he was Washington D.C.'s mayor. For whatever reason, I always remember the name Uzo Aduba, and believe me, at my age, I forget a lot of things.
ReplyDelete