Constructor: Carly Schuna
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: flag carrier (49A: Flag carrier of Panama = COPA) —
A much smoother experience today, with far fewer grimaces. This one has the kind of sparkle and whooshiness that I associate with the better Friday puzzles. The longer answers really shine, all over the grid, and the grid itself is built for zooming around—lots of access points for every section. The whole experience started out pretty crummy, with a twin-cluing scheme that I didn't particularly care for: 1A: Word of elaboration (ALSO) x/w 1D: Elaborate (ADD). I guess the clues there work OK, but when my first dip into an empty Saturday grid feels like a cutesy ambiguity trap, I get put off. You ever get stuck on an inscrutable "?" clue, check that answer's first cross, only to find yourself staring at yet another "?" clue, and you're like "Why lord why!? Make it stop!?" That's how I felt. "[Word of elaboration]? That's kind of vague, let me check the cross ... aw, [Elaborate]!? Really? Come on ..." And then my first answer in the grid was the always-unloved SESH, so as I say, takeoff was pretty bumpy, but I managed to go from SESH to SHOOT (no idea what followed) PASTE POM MELODIC CAGE EGAD ... and then I wanted DEBUNK (42A: Prove false) but wasn't too sure about that "K" and so held off and went down the grid with EYE TESTS instead. That's top of the grid to bottom of the grid, SESH to EYE TESTS, with hardly a pause. From there I had traction. I worked from EGAD back to the top of the grid, and from there, the long answers started to pop, colorfully, into view: SHOOT YOUR SHOT! DEEP FAKE! BRIOCHE BUN, mmmm. Good stuff.
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: flag carrier (49A: Flag carrier of Panama = COPA) —
A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations. (wikipedia)
Compañía Panameña de Aviación, S.A., (commonly referred to as Copa and branded simply as "Copa Airlines") is the flag carrier of Panama. It is headquartered in Panama City, Panama, with its main hub at Tocumen International Airport. Copa is a subsidiary of Copa Holdings and a member of the Star Alliance. The airline is also the main operator and owner of Colombian airline AeroRepública, currently known as Wingo, previously known as Copa Airlines Colombia. // Copa was founded in 1947 and it began domestic operations to three cities in Panama shortly afterwards. The airline then abandoned its domestic flight in 1980, in favor of international flights. In 1998, Copa formed a partnership with Continental Airlines, adopting a similar brand image and using the airline's OnePass frequent flyer program. (wikipedia)
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| [Buddy!] |
After that initial struggle in the NW, the NE ended up being Monday-easy. OK, maybe Tuesday-easy, but easy. Set a match to it and whoosh, up in flames and then to ashes, as fast as I could blink (give or take). So like yesterday's puzzle, this one had some difficulty unevenness, but overall, since there weren't any real "WTF?" sticking points for me, I made consistent progress and so didn't feel the unevenness so much. Couple of names I didn't know (the writer, the airline), but the surrounding fill took care of those answers, no problem. The cluing felt pretty properly Saturday today, if a little on the easy side. Vagueness and ambiguity made for a few puzzling moments. I had O--YED in place and *still* had to think about what the answer was supposed to be at 6D: Let through (OKAYED). I asked my brain for help but it was like "Look, we've got OBEYED, and that's all we got.""But that doesn't make sense.""Man, we've got what we got, don't blame me. You want OBEYED or not? Oh hey wait ... [pushes some boxes out of the way in the warehouse of my mind] ... looks like there's this OKAYED sitting here. It's dusty and the box is kinda dented, but ... you want it?""Yeah, I guess so. Thanks, brain." Also wanted BAE before BOO (38A: Sweetie), ATLAS before US MAP (19D: Geography classroom staple), DEAD before REAL (30D: Very, informally), and ACUTE before ASKEW (22D: Word that, when searched, causes Google to display all results at an angle). Initially thought the [Metalworker's union] had something to do with WELDING, but neither WELDER or WELDED made sense. Then I remembered (vaguely) that a SOLDER was a thing. My daughter occasionally builds stage sets and knows how to weld. I don't know if she knows how to ... sold? Is that a thing? A verb? No. A SOLDER is an alloy used to join metal, or (as a verb) the act of doing said joining.
Loved the clue on FOOTREST (14D: Dog park?). You park (rest) your dogs (feet) on a FOOTREST. Nice. Didn't love the clue on COPA, partly because it felt like niche trivia, but mostly because ... I just think you shouldn't pass up any chance to Manilow your grid. Missed Manilopportunities make me sad. This puzzle RAN LOW on Manilow. You don't have to go straight at the song, if that seems to obvious for a Saturday. Why not, [Cabana entrance?], something like that. Speaking of "entrance" clues, 59D: Entrance or exit of Target? is a "letteral" clue—the clue points not to something else but to itself, specifically a letter in one of the words in the clue. In this case, the TEE at both the beginning ("entrance") and ending ("exit") of the word "Target." Just want to reiterate one last time how good this grid looks. BEDHEAD PLATELET HOTSAUCE! The friendliness of "GLAD TO DO IT!" alongside the surliness of "NO ONE CARES." That's some peanut butter and chocolate magic right there. All that and Nic CAGE to boot!? Yes. I'll take it.
See you next time.