So a very enjoyable puzzle is getting short shrift tonight.
The theme...ON AND OFF...appears in three long answers. Three very clever long answers.
20A: Cry from Santa (on Comet, on Cupid).
38A: Sporadic (on again off again).
52A: Some theater (off off Broadway).
In addition to what I thought were better-than-average theme answers, there was some better-than-average fill, including a couple of long entries:
11D: Locked up (behind bars). I managed to get this with very few letters in place...don't know how.
26D: Center of power (oval office). Reminds me of a scene from The American President, one of my favorite movies. Add it to your list if you haven't already seen it.
Chevrolet makes two appearances in today's puzzle. 19A: Chevy offering (Tahoe) and 18D: Classic Chevy offering (Impala). My parents bought a brand new Impala station wagon when I was in junior high school...the very first new car we'd ever owned. I remember my excitement as I told a friend that it was the first 1965 car we'd had...couldn't figure out why she was laughing. I knew what I meant.
I'm always happy to see references to Hawaii...24A: You can hear it coming and going (aloha)...and multiword answers:
17A: Scolding (talking to).
43A: Extremely (ever so).
60A: Not allowing for compromise (all or none)...my favorite of the bunch.
6D: Circus (Big Top).
35D: Grow impatient with (tire of).
I enjoyed seeing 40D: Personification (avatar)...as well as 54D: Modern writing (blog).
Other favorites include 9D: Dense (obtuse)...despite the fact that I kept seeing the clue as Denise, 21D: Wine order (carafe), 24D: Pipe tobacco has it (aroma), 29D: Disco-era suffix (a-go-go) and 33D: Ecclesiastical council (synod).
I had to dig deep into the recesses of my brain to remember 39D: Nancy Drew's guy (Ned). As I write this, I suddenly remembered his last name...Nickerson.
Needed crosses to get a few things I didn't know...36A: Scala of "The Guns of Navarone" (Gia), 45A: Bordeaux variety (Medoc), 63A: __Wintour, real-life editor on whom "The Devil Wears Prada" is based (Anna), 8D: Austrian painter Schiele (Egon), 25D: "What Is to Be Done/" pamphleteer, 1901 (Lenin), and 32D: "I Still See __" ("Paint Your Wagon" song) (Elisa).
45D: Greek peak (Mt. Ossa) is back after a long absence. Frequent clue [Literary monogram] appears at 13D...this time it's TSE.
Very much liked the tie-in of 57D: MCI and others (anni) and 58D: One of 57-Down, in English (year).
That's it for tonight. Here's the grid...
...and I'll see you tomorrow.
Linda G
4 comments:
I liked the symmetrical positioning of OVAL OFFICE and BEHIND BARS.
on/on..on/off...off/off interesting theme...not a very difficult puzzle for a Thursday...it took me a bit to finish but did not need to Google!
Bob
Good catch, kratsman...and good job, Bob! Personally, I was grateful for a not-too-difficult Thursday.
Contrary to the previous comments, I found this to be a very difficult Thursday puzzle. I worked on it on and off (!) for four days and finally gave up and looked at your solution and very insightful comments. Thank you for posting this and for your excellent website, I misplaced Friday's paper so didn't get a chance to see the printed solution. Some of the clues I didn't like at all -- for instance, I expected "Ballpark figures" to be RBIs or ERAs, I never expected it to be "fans."
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