Constructor: James Tuttle
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: FALLING O(ut) (66A: Quarrel ... or a feature of five answers in this puzzle) — theme answers are two-word phrases where the second word is OUT. In the grid, the answer takes a 90-degree turn to the south at the "O"; thus the OUT appears to be FALLING.
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: LANDAU (18A: Horse-drawn vehicle) —
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Like the other puzzles this week, this one was super-easy. Unlike the others, this one entertained me a bit. Again, the fill isn't terribly interesting, but then rarely is actively offensive, either (though starting off with -ESE / E-CASH did not bode well). And though the theme was not hard to ferret out, it's pretty clever. Nice use of the revealer, literalizing a common expression. You can tell by the grid shape that something tricky is going on—none of the typical long theme answers one usually sees in a themed puzzle. This often suggests a rebus or some other gimmick that requires you to think outside conventional puzzle parameters. I picked up the theme very early, after I put in START at 19A and then immediately erased it based on the "K" from 4D: Modest kiss (PECK). Got SEE OUT easily, and thus STRIKE OUT was fully revealed to me without my having to try very hard (this was one minor inconsistency—free-standing OUTs in SEE OUT and I'M OUT, instead of the (preferable, I think) buried OUTs in ROUT, TOUT, and SCOUT). After discovering the theme, my only real hang-up was in and around LANDAU, a word I know but forgot. Most of the rest of the puzzle played like a Wednesday, and the bottom part closer to Tuesday.
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There was definitely a bunch of stuff I didn't know today, but for whatever reason, it didn't prove a hindrance. I had trouble making sense of the Shelley clue (24A: Word before "happiness," "majesty" and "fame" at the start of a Shelley poem) (NOR), likely because I don't know this Shelley poem (the poem is "Political Greatness" ... ???). I thought the clue was saying the word came before those words in *titles*. I tried HER at first. Not up on my "Mikado" songs, so "TIT-Willow" came just from crosses (37A: "___-Willow" (song from "The Mikado")). I recognize the counting rhyme now, but during the solve, couldn't call it up (50D: Food named six times in a children's number rhyme (POTATO)). SE was so easy that I never even saw the clues on NASSAU (67A: World capital that's a setting for three Bond films) or EMMETT (69A: Doc Brown in the "Back to the Future" movies). Both of them might have given me trouble in other contexts. But not today.
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: FALLING O(ut) (66A: Quarrel ... or a feature of five answers in this puzzle) — theme answers are two-word phrases where the second word is OUT. In the grid, the answer takes a 90-degree turn to the south at the "O"; thus the OUT appears to be FALLING.
Theme answers:
- 19A: Begin a journey (STRIKE Out)
- 16A: Explain in detail (SPELL Out)
- 25A: Discovers (FERRETS Out)
- 65A: Relax (CHILL Out)
Word of the Day: LANDAU (18A: Horse-drawn vehicle) —
n.
- A four-wheeled carriage with front and back passenger seats that face each other and a roof in two sections that can be lowered or detached.
- A style of automobile with a similar roof.
[After Landau, a city of southwest Germany.]
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/landau#ixzz2VOmmoDXh
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