I’m still not sure how I feel about this clue. 14a- (Set up a window display of the latest fashions, say?) ETAILED.I did not like this at all during the solve, but I see in Google that it’s relatively common. 13a- (Accoutre, as with all the latest gadgetry) RIG OUT.Kind of an awkward word forcing an awkward clue, no? 11a- (Like some Christmas ornaments that make noise) BELLED.Stuff I liked: BAD ART FRIEND (Recent internet buzz topic classic BEQ), WARSHIP, GO IN PEACE (clued by the nicely tricky “Father’s farewell” at 8D), PAT MORITA (25D- He lost Best Supporting Actor to Haing S.

This puzzle has looked better the more time I spend on this review, but usually I don’t come back at all after the last square of course. But of course, it also means more chances to find something I don’t love, and I’m realizing the more BEQ grids I review that in general he’s looser with clues than I’d like. I find more 6- and 7-letter entries give me more chances to really love an entry or three. Paul Coulter’s Universal crossword, “Secret Word” - pannonica’s write-upīrendan Emmett Quigley’s Themeless Monday crossword solution, Īt first blush, I usually say I prefer these “four corners” style themeless grids to those that have 9- or 10-stacks in two corners. I know PAX means “peace” in Latin, but I didn’t know there was a goddess of the same name. Trying to be cute, eh? This felt like a stretch, as if the legs are the key component of a TRIO. SHOOTS POOL and WIRE-HAIRED make for fine long Downs, and I also liked the frustrated “ COME ON!” and the NO-TELL motel. I still wasn’t sure how it was all going to be tied together, but the revealer did that nicely with an apt aha moment. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the phrase WAXING SALON, but then I wouldn’t be the best judge of that, so I went with it. WAXIN G SAL ON.Ĭatching on to the first wagon relatively quickly and seeing it take ship in the second entry made filling in the rest of the circles (and thus the theme entries) pretty quick. Tough phrase to clue, but it was pulled off nicely.

These letters are circled, hence the revealer CIRCLE THE WAGONS (57a, ). Theme: Phrases that contain the letters of WAGON, non-consecutively. The left side of the puzzle played harder than the right, to the point that I thought I was going to end up with a rather Wednesday/Thursdayish time until I got past the halfway point.īojan Koprivica’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Defensive Position”-Jim P’s review I could’ve done with one more theme entry pair.

47A/51A: The CED in TWO-FACED and the AR in ARE TOO spell CEDAR.

(Mmm, pancakes and sausage doused in maple syrup.

28A/30A: The ending MA in OH MAMA and the PLE in PLEASE DO spell MAPLE.

17A/18A: The AS in ALAS and the PEN in PENNE spell ASPEN.

In each Across row in which they appear, the circled letters spell a type of tree that is “split” by a column of black squares: Los Angeles Times 11/15/21 by Catherine CettaĪpologies that I don’t have time this week to do much more than explain the theme here: 63A and 65A, clued together as, are SPLIT WOOD. Overall, this was a fun and easy puzzle – congrats to Ian on his debut!Ĭatherine Cetta’s Los Angeles Times crossword - Stella’s write-up I did notice, however, the double big cats ( OCELOT and CHEETAH) and I enjoyed both the Falco and EDIE Falco references. My mom enjoyed how CIG and KEG were next to each other, which I hadn’t even noticed. I FEEL SICK and ANCHOR LEG are great across answer bonuses, which can be a rarity. I liked the misdirection on the 40d clue for TEND BAR and the wide open NE and SW corners. Neither of us knew Jean GENET, but other than that the fill is solidly Monday level. We had different mistakes for SLED RIDE – she had “sledding” and I had, uh, “sleeps in”, and we both agreed the phrase itself feels a tiny bit off, but it’s still fun and evocative. As a musical theater kid, I did love the inclusion of FEED ME SEYMOUR.īoth my mom and I agreed that the fill here was good overall. I personally don’t mind the lack of revealer, but it would be nice if the phrases had a bit more in common than just their structure if that structure is relatively common. hair, but I would call it fur, really – I kept wanting it to be a Raggedy Ann answer). Here’s my mom’s take: “Why is there no revealer? It needs something to tie it all together… actually, why is TICKLE ME ELMO there? That’s not a song! Everything else is a song!” I agree with her in regards to that second point – TICKLE ME ELMO feels like an outlier here (and I guess Elmo has red….

I’ve been hanging out with my family this weekend, which gives me a fun structure for this recap – my mom (in her words, “a regular but non-fanatical solver”) and I solved this puzzle separately and compared notes. New York Times, 11 15 2021, By Ian Rathkey

Slapdash crossword clue