April Fool! The truth is, Manny Nosowsky made me FOOL like a FEEL with this one.
The theme...and I didn't even see it coming...was revealed at 33A: Regret some stupidity...with a hint to this puzzle's theme (feel like a fool). The four theme answers are all in-the-language phrases, but FEEL is replaced with FOOL, and vice versa.
16A: Nitwit's swoon? (fool faint).
54A: Spring in the air? (April feel)...this is when I realized that the puzzle date was April 1.
8D: Vibes not being picked up by anyone? (nobody's feel).
23D: Doing credible work as a magician? (fooling okay).
I was moving along quite nicely...except for that damned southwest corner. For some reason that will never be clear, I knew 40D: Bad atmosphere (miasma). I also had 40A: Univ. where "Good Will Hunting" is set (MIT) and 59A: Analyze the composition of (assay)...but the rest of the corner was blank. It didn't help that I was misinterpreting the clue for 41A ["]...thinking it was a repetition of the previous clue. Wrong! The answer was inches...which is, of course, abbreviated that way. When I finally gave up on 56A: News groups (media) ending in an S, I was on my way.
I knew 5A: Four times a day, on an Rx (qid), but that didn't help me get 5D: Paper quantity (quire). It looked wrong, but 20A: New York tribe defeated by the Iroquois (Erie) pretty much sealed that one.
By far, the funniest clue in the puzzle...51A: Pre-remote channel changer (knob). I wonder how many out there have never seen such an animal. Other answers that will come more easily to those of us of a certain age include 25A: Kind of eyes (goo-goo), 10D: "Uncle" of early television (Miltie) and 26D: Verdon of "Damn Yankees" (Gwen).
I always love seeing Hawaii in the puzzle...31D: Hawaiian instrument, for short (uke) and 34D: Gifts at Honolulu Airport (leis).
The connected clues tonight...39D: Belly part (navel), tied in with 6D: Type of 39-Down (innie).
Leslie and Candy just arrived...hours later than they were due...so I'll wrap this up and go spend some quality time with them.
Here's the grid...
...and I'll see you tomorrow. No fooling!
Linda G
13 comments:
I enjoyed it...but I couldn't finish it. Didn't know QID or QUIRE, so the Q square stayed blank. But it looked OK blank, very unique, very strong, like a square that didn't need any adornment, it just stared back at me, daring me to mess it up with my pen. It won.
I guess 33a could have been "fool like a feel" for a more foolfeeling experience, but I still appreciated it.
Linda, I miss your cool pictures...Leslie and Candy better be family!!!
I don't know what pictures I would have used for this one...but, yes, they are family. Leslie is our younger daughter...Candy is her partner. You can see their smiling faces at the December 25 post...too bad Mike's in it.
Wow, I'm so glad you're back. It was just by chance that I checked in to see if you changed your mind. This is the only blog I read and, frankly, I was lost without it. It's clever and insightful. The puzzle is so much more fun when I read your comments after I finish it.
No fooling!
Well, BILGE - I had 6 answers I couldn't get, on a Tuesday! Sobering. And I was already sober.
I did grasp the theme before the end and thought it was hilarious. At first I couldn't figure out why the phrases sounded so kooky, though.
But that SW corner - yikes and yipe! I had MIT, IN RAGS, SHARK and MIASMA, plus FOOLING_ _ _ _, but couldn't divine the rest.
I knew Aorta had to be wrong, I wasn't sure if SHARK was right, and I couldn't see _OKAY to save my life. And MEDIA? I only deal with the MEDIA every damn day, but it wouldn't manifest itself because I didn't have enough crosses to beat me over the head with it.
Lots of great words, though. Oh I also had Google eyes instead of GOO GOO. Aren't google eyes something?
Also, I would have to challenge OKAY as being on a par with "credible." I think that's part of why I got bogged down - I was looking elsewhere for terms that suggested credibility, which generally implies a quality well beyond that of OK-ness.
For me it was GOOGLY eyes and that really made life tough...
Tough theme and very tough SW corner...
Would've been lost without you :)
@wendy -- Google eyes are something. Check the lyrics for "Barney Google". And, Google Eye is secret software that tracks of more than your searches....
Having trouble sleeping, Karma? ;)
Go back to bed! It's way too early for you to be helping me with my angst!
This was one tough puzzle for a Tuesday...and the theme was right on...I felt like a fool...QID and QUIRE were unknown to me as was MIASMA and I also had GOOGLE eyes...I take a bit of solace that others had some problems too
I liked your April Fool joke :) Also was glad to know I wasn't the only one to have trouble on a Tuesday. I didn't know Miasma,aceto or quire - hope I can remember them. ET
Hi Linda,
Bob, I agree with you and several others that this was indeed a tough Tuesday puzzle. I was stuck in the SW for quite some time. Finally pulled out aorta threw in the shark, and it fell together. Interesting theme for the day, but I guess I wasn't in a puzzle foolish frame of mind this AM. ;)
Norman
Looks like we were all in the same place with this one...literally and figuratively.
Maybe a tough Tuesday puzzle is the best April Fool's joke ; )
Well, I was fooling about Goggle EYE software...then I came across this (from yesterday's London Times):
"Google has been recruited by US intelligence agencies to help them better process and share information they gather about suspects."
If you are wary of Google keeping track of your interests, there is also Googlonymous, which explains what Google tracks, and offers an alternative search engine in the mix.
@Linda -- good looking "kids"!
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