Constructor: Trent H. Evans
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: None
Word of the Day: ASPIC (Savory jelly) —
Bullets:
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Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: None
Word of the Day: ASPIC (Savory jelly) —
Aspic or meat jelly (/ˈæspɪk/)[1] is a savory gelatin made with a meat stock or broth, set in a mold to encase other ingredients. These often include pieces of meat, seafood, vegetable, or eggs. Aspic is also sometimes referred to as aspic gelée or aspic jelly. In its simplest form, aspic is essentially a gelatinous version of conventional soup.
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Hi friends! It's Rafa here for the write-up today (and tomorrow) (and the day after tomorrow) (get comfortable with me)! Hope those who celebrate had a wonderful holiday, but the puzzling never stops. I am in San Francisco where we are having a "heat wave" (the high today was 74; it is currently 59 at 10pm) so I got to spend some restful time outside. |
| The ELMO clue was Muppet erasure so I'm here righting that wrong |
I absolutely smashed my Friday PR with this puzzle (4:46, down from something like 5:15 I think) so I am obligated to like it. Barely any time to appreciate this one as I was just so busy swooshing, whizzing, etc., around the grid feeling so smart that I was solving a Friday this fast. Ok, I'm done with the bragging. There was lots to love here, though. It felt like a classic 72-word themeless to me. Not trying to do too much, but every single 8+ length answer was fun, and there was (mostly) nothing to gluey holding it all together. Let's get into it.
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| ASPIC! |
Long stuff ... yes, lots to love here. TRUST FALL is great but I absolutely cannot imagine doing that at a company retreat with my coworkers. Do people actually do that in a corporate setting? Interesting choice to clue PRIDE FLAGS as symbols of solidarity rather than from the perspective of the community. NO BRAINERS, SOCIAL CUE, ALL ABOARD, LET'S PARTY, SMASH HIT, AD NAUSEAM, etc., all very fun! Ok, you get the picture.
Short stuff ... pretty solid overall, too. SISAL is something I've only ever seen in crosswords, but it's absolutely A Thing. Bill MAHER has definitely said some things I found shocking so the clue referencing his "What This Comedian Said Will Shock You" book felt ... apt! HAL March was new to me (way before my time). HEH HEH was kinda fun to uncover.
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| ACAI! |
Only other note on this is that the top-left and bottom-right corners are pretty closed off from the rest of the grid. I didn't have much issue with that (since as we know I was famously whooshing my way around the puzzle) but that relative lack of interconnectedness (wow, that's a long word!) can make it easier to get stuck in a section. Is that something you notice or care about in themeless puzzles? Let me know in the comments!
That's all I have! As I said at the beginning, you always remember the ones where you smash your PRs, so this will be a memorable one for me. Hope you all enjoyed it too.
Bullets:
- A LITTLE HELP HERE [Request for assistance] — This is one of those things that are absolutely real but I would never actually say out loud myself
- REN FAIRE [Festival with a throwback theme, briefly] — I've never been to a REN FAIRE but it sounds like it would be pretty fun tbh
- SIA [Australian-born pop singer] — I had a phase a while ago where I listened to a lot of SIA. Her 1000 Forms Of Fear takes me right back to 2018
- TABBY CAT [Tom sporting a striped coat, say]— Cat content is always welcome in crosswords. When I solve crosswords, seeing cat content makes me happy. When I construct crosswords, including cat content makes me happy. More cats, please!
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