I agree that the clue for SOFT G is brilliant. I prefer just a bald pate, but a “rug” is certainly preferable to an awkward, sprayed, desperate comb-over. The Bachelor and The Bachelorette could be annual Weepstakes. I was thinking a knight needed a “steed.”ĭidn’t know VEEPSTAKES, either, but I liked learning the expression. I never would have gotten TEMPI, so I wouldn’t have seen INST. TATTLETALE went in with no crosses because I couldn’t figure out the downs there. Unlike others, I just had a good-natured Ah, you sure got me there reaction. 3) Finally getting that STRIKES A BALANCE curves twice (!). 2) Realizing they don’t just turn down a square, but finish all the way to the left for the backwards word. This one had four “moments” for me: 1) Seeing that 1A and 21A turn down to TWO TIME and SALARY. ( And a silky smooth Saturday one letter shy of a rebus – the E) - Watch it the link is the solution. Today’s is a case in point.įor me, it’s theme, theme, theme. Someone said yesterday that you just know it when you see it, know that you’ll remember it for a long time. – so hard to name that je ne sais quoi element that makes for a great puzzle. I agree with – best puzzle of the week so far. This puzzle is rated ***** on the Larry Scale. I read Mentally unfirm and threw in pENILE. The Scoville scale was the HOTTEST thing in food news way back when habaneros showed up in pony packs at the Home Depot twenty years ago. What's a four letter word for hypermeticulous, and what does that have to do with the orifice of the digestive tract, and why does that not flunk the breakfast test? Asking for a friend. It's a persona, like Dear Abby or Aunt Minnie Pearl, or Charley Weaver, or. I always kinda hate to contradict him, but he revealed that he never reads this comment section, so don't waste your time and mine in personal attacks on Rex Parker. I had no problem with any of OFL's quibbles. It's hard to put into words, but I know it when I see it. was asking about what makes a puzzle great and then this baby shows up.

I had a hunch about AES and then bingo! Words coming and going and then coming nice payoff, right there in the middle of the grid. Those U-turns were terrific and it began up in the far NW. Hi Castor & Pollux! Wasn't their mother HELEN? Better consult my Edith Hamilton. I liked it! I'm never quite sure what to do when I'm confronted with an asterisk. Again, theme was solid, but not solid enough to absorb the blow from the GIVE EAR train wreck. Luckily at some point my 'tear it all out' instinct kicked in, and somehow I was able to get to GIVE / GOBS / BEE / VEEP.

They were just wrong for This Grid because stupid GIVE EAR and stupid VEEPSTAKES thought they'd have a stupid party for ugly answers. Had LI_EEAR and _EAPSTAKES and couldn't see how any answers I had were wrong. I wrote in TEA and then that gave me LOTS for. There is not necessarily a 'stakes' involved. ? Is VEEPSTAKES the thing where candidates decide on VP candidates? We gave that a name? The clue makes it sound like an official thing. A good trap should make you go 'Ah, right, good one.' But GIVE EAR (?!) is a phenomenally stupid thing, and crossing VEEPSTAKES. Now traps are fine, but when you set them where your Stupidest answers are, then falling into them is deeply unpleasant. What I dislike, to the point of resenting, is the deliberate trap set in the west.

The fill is just OK, but the theme is pretty demanding, so no strong complains there. The double- UEY in the middle of the grid is a nice twist. So the basic concept is solid-answers do a U-turn, and the comeback portion of the answer is itself a viable word in the Across.

Stock market debut crossword clue