Hi, it's Annabel!! As Rex informed you, last week I was yelling IM HIT! because I was sick - there's something going around at school. :( But I guess the battlefieldfield medic of life got to me, because your FAVE is refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to do an Annabel Monday!!!!!
Constructor: PATRICK MERRELL
Relative difficulty: EASY
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THEME: A MONSTROUS NAME— Theme answers were animals that started with a fairytale monster. Each clue described the animal as having "a monstrous name."
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: DEVIL FISH (43A: Undersea animal with a monstrous name) —
Honestly this puzzle is probably my favorite so far! I dunno why, it was just something about the way the clues were written. LAP is "a spot for a cat," and a LOBE can be on a brain or an ear. Also, I don't know how old Patrick Merrell is, but there seemed to be A LOT OF Millenial influence in the puzzle! Not only were there a couple Internet shout-outs, but I always say SAME rather than "ditto," and occasionally I want to give someone a rude "AHEM?"(I don't, though, because I am a very polite young lady.) Oh, also, ABATE and AGATE, with their wildly different pronunciations.
My one real complaint was that I tried HIGH NOON for NOONDAY about a million times despite knowing full well that it didn't even fit. Still, this puzzle was really well put together - if it ain't BAROQUE, don't fix it!
Bullets:
Signed, Annabel Thompson, tired because midterms are coming up.
Oh, also...SHOUTOUT TO MY KID SISTER MAYA ON HER B-DAY!!! She's turning eleven already, which means she's only seven years away from getting her full-ride scholarship to art school. Seriously, the kid can draw. Happy birthday Maya!!!!
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Constructor: PATRICK MERRELL
Relative difficulty: EASY
THEME: A MONSTROUS NAME— Theme answers were animals that started with a fairytale monster. Each clue described the animal as having "a monstrous name."
Theme answers:
- VAMPIRE BAT (17A: Airborne animal with a monstrous name)
- DRAGONFLY (27A: Airborne animal with a monstrous name)
- DEVIL FISH (43A: Undersea animal with a monstrous name)
- GIANT SQUID (64A: Undersea animal with a monstrous name)
Word of the Day: DEVIL FISH (43A: Undersea animal with a monstrous name) —
The devil fish or giant devil ray (Mobula mobular) is an endangered species of eagle ray in the family Myliobatidae. It is currently listed as endangered, mostly due to bycatch mortality in unrelated fisheries.
Devil rays feed on planktonic crustaceans and small schooling fish, which are trapped using the modified gill covers (branchial plates) responsible for its "devil-like" silhouette. The species is ovoviviparous: the young hatch from their eggs inside the mother's body and emerge later when they are more fully grown. Only a single live young which is called a pup is born at a time.[1]
(Wikipedia)
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OoOoOoOoOoOoOooo, what a good puzzle for the second week of the spookiest month of the year! I dunno if I'd count "giant" as a monster, but I guess that's subjective. Did anyone else have LEVIATHAN for 43A? I guess I was thinking of other kinds of monsters. I wonder what ARIEL would think of a GIANT SQUID...Honestly this puzzle is probably my favorite so far! I dunno why, it was just something about the way the clues were written. LAP is "a spot for a cat," and a LOBE can be on a brain or an ear. Also, I don't know how old Patrick Merrell is, but there seemed to be A LOT OF Millenial influence in the puzzle! Not only were there a couple Internet shout-outs, but I always say SAME rather than "ditto," and occasionally I want to give someone a rude "AHEM?"(I don't, though, because I am a very polite young lady.) Oh, also, ABATE and AGATE, with their wildly different pronunciations.
My one real complaint was that I tried HIGH NOON for NOONDAY about a million times despite knowing full well that it didn't even fit. Still, this puzzle was really well put together - if it ain't BAROQUE, don't fix it!
Bullets:
- OUTED (68A: No longer in the closet, and not by choice) — Handled well, in my opinion, especially since it's pretty topical with tomorrow being National Coming Out Day. Unwanted outing is a pretty serious issue; it can put people in danger. Props to Patrick Merrell for bringing it up!
- ANYONE (20A: Who knows the answer?)— Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
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| You know! For kids! |
- STINE (5A: Children's writer R.L. ______) — Speaking of the spookiest month of the year....This really brings back memories. R.L. Stine is the author of the Goosebumps series, a series of horror books for kids that scared the heck out of me for years as a child. They were really good, though, check out a dramatic reading or something. And check out that "Night of the Living Dummy" cover, otherwise known as "the worst Goosebumps book ever because sentient ventriloquist dummies are terrifying." I'm probably not going to sleep well tonight.
- AFLAC (32D: Insurer with a duck in its commercial) — AAAFLAAAAC!!!
Signed, Annabel Thompson, tired because midterms are coming up.
Oh, also...SHOUTOUT TO MY KID SISTER MAYA ON HER B-DAY!!! She's turning eleven already, which means she's only seven years away from getting her full-ride scholarship to art school. Seriously, the kid can draw. Happy birthday Maya!!!!
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| She's probably playing Minecraft. She's really good at making castles and stuff. |
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]