Many more, including ROLL A CIGAR, which is not at all “eat a SAMMICH”-like. Yes to the boxer rebellion, one that could make year-end best list. Rex gets annoyed by too many ? (Read, clever) clues, but I can’t get enough of them. Seeing a BLUE WHALE in the wild is on my bucket list, having grown up in awe of and in love with the model at the Museum of Natural History. What a triumph that one is, I can only imagine how good it would feel to come up with for the constructor. Eventually got back to it and had JUMP SCARES jump out at me, and finally the magnificence of GO COMMANDO was revealed. I forget what I had to overwrite, but I know that what I thought was a foothold actually got in my way. In general I found this to be a medium puzzle in some places and easier in others, starting with a hard time in the northwest.
I was especially fond of the southwest, as this EARLY RISER did the puzzle looking out at the stars behind the ridge line. Loved to learn about PHARAOH ANTs, especially given how often the more PLEBeian “ANT” comes our way. The question clues were so good that they didn’t bug me.
A bit of clunky fill in a few places but generally clever cluing, really lovely answers. So, recollections are a little hazy, but I enjoyed it.
I did this puzzle when I couldn’t get back to sleep at 4 am this morning and then somehow miraculously was able to fall back asleep. Well, better than today’s puzzle will be something to behold. Your notes indicate that you are always seeking to get better at your craft. I liked seeing BEAUTY REST over BEDS, and GNU in the same corner as WAVE.Ī most satisfying fill-in. My brain whirring, occasionally tapping me on the shoulder to bring my attention to another part of the grid with an answer it just figured out. Oh, did I mention that this grid has nine NYT debut answers? All this is a wow, even if it weren’t a first-time NYT debut puzzle.īut more importantly, how was the solve? For me, Friday prime time. That’s 16 tens, most of them with pizzazz – skill and art rolled into one. Not only triple-10-stacks in every corner, but each one had another 10-letter word going through it. Weird how some " A " phrases feel stand-alone perfect and others. well, that's closer to "EAT A SAMMICH" category of answer. See, ROLL A JOINT, that's a good answer, whereas ROLL A CIGAR. I mean that answer *really* wanted to be ROLL A JOINT. Oh, and I definitely had ROLL A JOINT at 29D: Prepare some leaves for burning? ( ROLL A CIGAR). I had TEASETS before TEAWARE but fixed it quick by way of WAVE (38A: It can mean hello or goodbye). Not knowing that answer made seeing the Downs in the NE tough. Looks like TECHY *is* an obsolete form of TETCHY, which would very much have fit the clue (it means "touchy irritable peevish"). Only other thing I struggled with was TESTY (31A: Easily put out), which I had as TENSE, and later TECHY (not "tecky" but with the "ch" pronounced like in "touchy").
Took me a minute to get English LIT, a subject I ostensibly teach. But then even the stuff I know well I was a bit slow with today. So lots of stuff today that was just outside my familiarity. I thought HARDPAN was something related to the earth (it is) no idea it had make-up relevance (it apparently just means any kind of "hardened, impervious layer") ( 41D: Dense buildup in makeup powder containers). No idea what a PHARAOH ANT is (had PHARAOH CAT there for a bit, before I read the clue more closely) ( 15A: Pest so named because it was originally found in royal tombs). Turns out there aren't *that* many of them (six), but *five* of them come on long answers, so it somehow felt like there were a lot, possibly because I had to spend more time with them.
0 kommentar(er)
