Constructor: David Steinberg
Relative difficulty: Easy (not for me, I stumbled all over the NW, but everyone else seems to have torn through it) (4:26 on oversized 16x15 grid)
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THEME: CAMOUFLAGE (35A: "Trick" used by the creatures found in rows 3, 5, 11 and 13) — you can find a chameleon, octopus, leaf insect, and leopard "camouflaged" in those rows (by having their names broken across black squares):
Theme answers:
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Fat-fingered early-morning solve. Time ended up average, which should be good because the grid is oversized, but is comparatively bad, given all the very fast times I'm seeing online. I thought DAB was DAP and that pretty much tells you all you need to know about why I wasn't superfast—French white sauces that start with "P"?? [Crickets] [Tumbleweeds] I also forgot ANAPHORA, which is semi-hilarious, as I teach the concept occasionally (it's a poetic device). My brain was like "ANA- ... ANAPH- ... ANAPEST? ANAPHRASIS? ANAPHRASE? ANAGONYE!?" No no no and no. I was conflating a *lot* of different literary terms in my head. Stupid head. Also weirdly balked at IPHOTO because it seemed to easy given the clue (4D: Longtime Apple program whose icon featured a camera). Then I couldn't remember "COCO" (!???) which is a very popular movie that I definitely know about even if I haven't seen it. But again, all kinds of four-letter C-names came pouring forth, none of them "COCO." This made escaping the NW a lot harder. Sigh. After I got out of there, though, things did get Much easier, with only PROSHOP and my bizarre trouble spelling CAMOUFLAGE slowing me down at all. As for the theme, well, I didn't see it (get it ... 'cause it was CAMOUFLAGEd ... but seriously I didn't see it). It was fun to hunt the animal names, cool seeing them come into view. I thought INSECT was a real letdown of an answer, until I realized it was LEAF INSECT, which is not a category I knew existed and yet feels very much like a category that exists. I've seen insects on leaves, at any rate. Very cool that the animals use *every* word in the rows they occupy as part of their CAMOUFLAGE. Grid isn't loaded with memorable fill, but neither is it a mess. Very solid work.
Five things:
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Relative difficulty: Easy (not for me, I stumbled all over the NW, but everyone else seems to have torn through it) (4:26 on oversized 16x15 grid)
Theme answers:
- BECHAMEL / EONLINE
- POST DOC / TOP / USSR
- PLEA / FIN / SECTION
- GALILEO / PARDON ME
1: repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect (merriam-webster.com)Lincoln's "we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground" is an example of anaphora
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Five things:
- 36D: Girl in a bonnet, maybe (LASS) — I ... don't know what to do with this. Do Irish girls typically wear bonnets? Is this clue from the Walter Scott universe? I don't think of bonnets as specifically Irish. Perhaps they are. Anyway, even with L- and then LA- I had no idea. "LADY?"
- 43D: Use, as a mattress (LIE ON) — Brain: "Ooh, you *know* the difference between 'lie' and 'lay,' so you've got this!" Fingers: "LAY ON!?!?! YES!?!?! GOOD!??!!" Brain: "No, you idiot."
- 50A: Org. that recognizes nearly 200 breeds (AKC) — so not KFC then? OK, fine.
- 57D: Part of Verizon Media (AOL) — hesitated here, even with the "L," as I have a hard time accepting that AOL still exists. The very letters scream "dial-up" to me.
- 51D: Muse of history (CLIO)— ironically, one of the many four-letter "C" names I wanted for "COCO"!
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