Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Tuesday, August 9, 2016, Andrea Carla Michaels

4:23

The blurb tells us that this was a contest puzzle in Lollapuzzoola in a previous year, and had a 15 minute time limit. I suspect opinions will vary on the theme here, in that each theme answer is a one word said twice, but here split into two grid entries, each clued in a different way. Thus ZOOM / ZOOM is clued with the Mazda ad slogan as well as with "quickly". The former works better for me than the latter.

Other theme answers are likewise hit and miss. I accept the Al Pacino movie reference (although I'd never heard of nor seen the film in question), but the P.G. Wodehouse book AUTHOR / AUTHOR is merely a collection of his letters. How many people would be expected to know this? Perhaps I should take this as a goad to my trivia knowledge. I did not know the Aaron Copland ballet, but HEARYE / HEARYE as a "town crier's cry" is straightforward. Similarly, the Louis Prima tune is outside my wheelhouse, but SING / SING as a prison name is common knowledge.

In any case, the duplication of the answers made the puzzle much easier than expected. I do like the addition of CHINATOWN and YOUBETCHA (very nice). The rarely-used (in music, anyway) BSHARP is fine. I smiled at the classic 34D: What generals keep up their sleevies? (ARMIES).

On the other hand, ITNO and ERNO. I can't decide which is worse. Probably the latter.

1A: Computers that are un-PC (MACS) gets a C+. It's an old joke (perhaps it wasn't so tired when the puzzle first ran). It's also the answer I put in first with 100% confidence.

- Colum

2 comments:

  1. 8:29
    I've walked over that bridge. Fifteen minutes seems a bit long for this puzzle, if only because of the duplication. I didn't love this one, but didn't hate it either. YOUBETCHA reminds me of Alaska, for some reason, however BATTY that may be. MUMBO is fine, and I love the clue for ZIPSUP.

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  2. ERNO seems like the kind of thing one might say, but wasn't too satisfying, maybe because it doesn't really stand out from any number of other phrases which might fit.

    I thought the clue for YEAR was pretty cute, even if there is no obvious way to make it a bit harder.

    I had BYEbye before BYENOW. Oh, and I'm glad I had a few crosses to know it was ACIDS and not baseS. Needed all the crosses for ASHANTI but fortunately that was doable. And I don't remember seeing ONEARTH very often, although I can think of lots of ways to clue it ("Peace ____"; "where the farmer set down her tools"; "where the astronaut was after the mission").

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