Hi, everyone! It’s Clare, back for the last Tuesday in March. I’m coming off of a third-place finish in trivia, which I’ll accept given that it was our first time back in a while. This month, I’ve been watching a lot of March Madness (particularly the women) and getting way too invested in my teams winning (and in Caitlin Clark). It’s also a rather busy time at work — USCIS has decided to increase filing fees on April 1, which means my firm is trying to get a whole lot of filings out before then. And all this has been happening while I’ve been dying a bit from this second winter that made me nearly freeze to death (before getting some hot cocoa) at a Washington Spirit NWSL game. (We won in dramatic fashion with an extra-time goal.)
Relative difficulty:Challenging (for a Tuesday)
THEME: AD HOMINEM (34A: Kind of fallacious argument … or, phonetically, a hint to the answers to the starred clues) — Add a homonym at the end of the word/phrase that sounds like the prior word or syllable
Theme answers:
- HOTEL SUITE SWEET (17A: Mint on a pillow, maybe?)
- PIGTAIL TALE (27A: "Pippi Longstocking," for one?)
- MR RIGHT RITE (46A: Marriage ceremony for the perfect guy?)
- SECOND TO NONE NUN (57A: Mother superior?)
Lars and the Real Girl is a 2007 American comedy-drama film written by Nancy Oliver and directed by Craig Gillespie. The film stars Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner, and Patricia Clarkson. Its plot follows Lars, a kind-hearted but socially awkward young man who develops a romantic yet nonsexual relationship with an anatomically correct sex doll, a RealDoll named Bianca. Though a commercial failure, the film was positively received by critics, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. (Wiki)
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I thought the theme was quite fun and inventive. As a result, I enjoyed the solve more than I often do. Who doesn’t like a SUITE SWEET or a TAIL TALE or a RIGHT RITE or especially a SECOND TO NONE NUN— though I had to puzzle out that final one for a while. I realize three of the four final words are homonyms of the previous word, while the fourth (PIGTAIL TALE) uses a homonym of the previous syllable, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that this was one of the more clever themes I’ve seen on a Tuesday. And I rather enjoyed it. The rest of the fill surrounding the theme was on the tougher side, which contributed to my slower-than-usual time. SUI (57D: ___ generis (unique)) and MIEN (46D: Appearance) felt like words for puzzles later in the week. I wanted AEON (31A: Many millennia) to be eons, even though I knew the answer had to be singular.
Some of the downs were nice — I Iiked having CROATIA (2D: Country that adopted the euro in 2023), OUTRAGE (3D: Indignation), STATURE (44D: Reputation), and REDUCES (40D: Simplifies, as a fraction) in the puzzle, although I thought TIE IT UP (12D: Force a game into extra innings, say) was pretty meh. And THE SUNS (11D: Phoenix basketball team, familiarly) isn’t really a nickname for the team. The name of the city’s men's basketball team is just “the Phoenix Suns.” I suppose you could make the argument that by adding “the” you’ve turned it into a nickname, but then you could claim almost any sports team is a familiar name if you just add “the” (such as “the Steelers,” “the Warriors,” “the Giants,” “the Penguins,” etc.) The team nickname is part of the name — there’s nothing familiar about it.
There were a couple of mini themes in the puzzle — with 1A: Get moving (SCOOT) and 6A: Get moving? (PROD), along with 36D: Fairy tale monster (OGRE) and 47D: Fairy tale monsters (GIANTS) — which I thought added to the puzzle and the theme especially.
Misc.:
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Misc.:
- I knew the answer to OHIO (16A: Dayton’s state) because my cousin is an assistant coach at Dayton for the men’s soccer team!
- I absolutely love The Sports BRA (24A: (Portland bar dedicated to women's athletics) and have been following along ever since it opened. It’s unique and lovely and amazing, and I love that it was in the puzzle. I’m jealous of everyone who can go.
- I distinctly remember wanting to be like Pippi Longstocking (27A) when I was younger; one time I slept upside down on my bed with my head where my feet were supposed to be. I was also Pippi Longstocking for Halloween one year with a wig and everything — including pipe cleaners to make my pigtails stick out. I now have red hair… maybe she was the basis for my dying it that color.
- BEDSIDE manner (50A: (doctor's demeanor)) makes me think of Cristina Yang from “Grey’s Anatomy,” especially because I’ve seen a million and one promotions for the show’s 21st season. (Cristina’s BEDSIDE manner was notoriously awful.) The fact that the show has been around for that long is simply wild.
- Fun fact: Something I learned tonight at trivia about “Shrek” (which features a famous OGRE) is that it doesn’t pass the Bechdel Test (i.e., do two women talk in a film about anything other than a man?).
- I’ve seen “My Cousin Vinny” with Marisa TOMEI (29D: Marisa who played herself in a "Seinfeld" cameo) more times than I should probably admit. I remember having a sleepover with my friend when I was younger, and we watched the movie three times over two days because it was just that good. If I ever have the chance to give my Letterboxd four favorites, that movie is definitely in there.
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