Never saw the movie referred to in the mini-theme, but Frannie remembered CAPTAINPHILLIPS after I remembered SOMALIPIRATES, so that went well, too. And that's a very different clue for ALI (34A: Iran's Ayatollah _ Khamenei)! We didn't know that either. We enjoyed seeing ALEXANDERCALDER (61A: Mobile creator) in there… he's always a favorite. Then it was just a matter of filling in.ĭidn't know KLEBAN (24A: 'A Chorus Line' lyricist Ed) or what (32D) year the Angels won the World Series ( MMII), and TRILBY (47D: English hat similar to a fedora) sounded familiar only after it was filled in, but those things mattered little today. We started with the Down clues, and after getting a few of those, the fifteens all fell easily. This grid put up very little resistance as we worked on it in unison last night. Not the most exciting puzzle, maybe, but a nice challenge for us today. I don't know who ELSA (41A: Orphaned lion of literature) is, but I did remember AMAH (34A: Nanny, in Nanjing) and ISAO (9D: Golfer Aoki), so that helped a little. The NE and SW corners are tight, and contain some of the weakest stuff today ( KTS (18A: They often land next to queens: Abbr.) (strained, I think), and UEY (59A: 180) (We've seen this a few times, but we're not digging it)), but we'll suffer that without too much grousing in exchange for POOLTABLE (32D: Shark's place), HUDSONBAY (33D: Polar Bear Provincial Park borders it), CORNCOBPIPE (1A: It's made from an ear and put in the mouth), ANCIENTROME (58A: Forum setting), OKEECHOBEE (28D: Locals call it the 'Big O'), and DANUBERIVER (54A: It's between Buda and Pest).įrannie enjoyed TEACOZY (42A: Knit at a social function), and we both groaned at PURR (8D: Himalayan production), but in a good way. When we had '_ _ _ _ NXL_E' for example, I thought we had a mistake for sure, but Frannie all of a sudden said SPHINXLIKE (31A: Enigmatic), and finally we were getting somewhere!Īs usual with a Barry Silk puzzle, the fill is high-quality. Whew! What a difference a day makes! Much of the SE fell quickly, but everything else took a long, long time to come into focus for us today. Longing looks ( LEERS).ĭespite the less entertaining parts of the puzzle, overall it's nothing to SNOOK at. Which reminds me to note that there's not much Huyguens material here, except maybe 107D. It took me a minute to get it - not the kind of rubber I was thinking of. It looks really weird in the middle of the puzzle there.Īlso sprinkled in were a few clever clue and answer pairs. 1969 Creedence Clearwater Revival hit?, but LOATEENAGERVE was also nice, and the last one we got. Who doesn't love a Wacky Wordy when she can get one? My favorite was NOOMDAB (BADMOON rising) 90D. Purveyor of the Doublicious sandwich ( KFC) Info for an airport greeter, for short ( ETA)ģ5A. Ever since I started the puzzle this morning, a phrase has been rattling around in my head: 'regrettable gettables.' This puzzle seemed like a festival of abbreviations, word parts, and product names that were easy to get, but not fun, although NYTOL amuses me. Here I am giving Horace (and of course, you, our dedicated readers :) a treat for his birthday by writing up today's puzzle. Sure, there's a little too much 'A-something' ( AFAR, ANAP, ADUE…), but overall, this is a fine Monday. BARBARELLA (10D: 1968 Jane Fonda sci-fi film), INQUEST (4D: Official investigation), and STORMSURGE (26D: Rise of seawater that might accompany a hurricane) are all solid. The longer non-theme stuff is quite good today, too. Also, is it a little weird to you that the first ( MASQUERADEPARTY (18A: *Where Romeo and Juliet meet)) and last ( MARDIGRASPARADE (58A: *New Orleans event with floats)) theme entries seem somewhat related? No? OK. I'm guessing I might recognize it, but I cannot conjure it out of nothing.

I've heard the name MACARTHURPARK (42A: *1978 #1 Donna Summer hit that covered a 1968 #2 hit by Richard Harris) a lot in my life, but I couldn't have told you that either one of those people had sung it, nor can I sing any of it myself. The 'Ma and Pa' (could have been 'Ma and Par,' but that doesn't make any sense…) theme was fine, and the extra-long (for a Monday?) theme entries were all quite good. Nowhere near the four-minute mark today, but I enjoyed the slightly more challenging Monday.

Helios for one crossword clue