Constructor: David Karp
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: THEMELESS - It's Saturday!
Word of the Day: POT DE CREME (49A: Custardy French dessert) —
Like I said, I got nothing off-hand from the first few clues, so I jumped to a different section to get started. I confidently dropped NBA instead of NFL and POT AU CREME instead of POT DE CREME into 45A and 49A, but the fact that I couldn't make any sense out of 47D (LEXI: Golfer Thompson who qualified for the U.S. Women's Open at age 12) got me back on track pretty quickly. The fact that NEMO (45D: Spoiler alert: He's found in Sydney Harbour) was a true gimme that fit either answer didn't help. Once I got that sorted, though, I didn't really slow down until I finished. I hesitated for a second spelling AFICIONADOS, but no real worries there.![]()
I never enjoy being reminded of the existence of AYN Rand or her unreadable books, but following it up with Miles MORALES is a nice palate cleanser. I also liked the trivia in the clue for PERU (32D: Country name that's also the Portuguese word for "turkey"). Learning things is fun!
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Some of the longer answers seemed nicely in the language to me. ARE YOU NUTS, I CAN RELATE, and IS THAT A YES all brought a quick smile to my face. So bonus points for those. Getting all three of those phrases to fit without sacrificing the fill too much feels like a nice accomplishment. There's also a shot at skewing the puzzle younger crossing RIDIC (41D: So absurd, in slang) with PEACH EMOJI (54D: Butt text?). Now, I'm just past the generation that flirted using emojis, but I didn't think the peach was exclusively "butt." I thought... well, let's just say a quick Google confirmed my instincts and leave it at that.
Stray thoughts:![]()
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Signed, Eli Selzer, False Dauphin of CrossWorld
Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: THEMELESS - It's Saturday!
Word of the Day: POT DE CREME (49A: Custardy French dessert) —
Pot de crème (/ˈpoʊdəˈkrɛm/ POH-də-KREM; French: [po də kʁɛm]),[1] plural pots de crème (pronounced the same), is a loose French dessert custard dating to the 17th century. The name means "pot of custard" or "pot of cream", which also refers to the porcelain cups in which the dessert is served
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Hi everyone, it's Eli filling in at the last minute. Hope your weekend is off to a great start. Today's puzzle is a pretty straightforward themeless offering. I drew a blank starting off in the northwest, got slowed by a few wrong answers in the southeast, and still finished it in under 5 minutes. Obviously your mileage may vary, but that's a pretty easy puzzle in my book. Let's see what we've got.Like I said, I got nothing off-hand from the first few clues, so I jumped to a different section to get started. I confidently dropped NBA instead of NFL and POT AU CREME instead of POT DE CREME into 45A and 49A, but the fact that I couldn't make any sense out of 47D (LEXI: Golfer Thompson who qualified for the U.S. Women's Open at age 12) got me back on track pretty quickly. The fact that NEMO (45D: Spoiler alert: He's found in Sydney Harbour) was a true gimme that fit either answer didn't help. Once I got that sorted, though, I didn't really slow down until I finished. I hesitated for a second spelling AFICIONADOS, but no real worries there.
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| Call Me By Your Name? That is one ridic peach. Don't get me started on 18A. |
Stray thoughts:
- 32A: Business with the stock symbol WOOF (PETCO)— Good reminder to pick up dog food tomorrow. Wouldn't want my sweet Maeve to go hungry.
- 14D: U.S. city with the motto "Where Discoveries are Made" (LOS ALAMOS) — I suppose that's better than "If You Had Become Death, Destroyer of Worlds, You'd Be Home By Now."
- 26D: Major League Soccer team with pink home jerseys (INTER MIAMI) — Easy to remember when you keep seeing Lionel Messi in his jersey, rubbing it in your face that he's not playing for LAFC.
- 36D: Box office? (CUBICLE) — I never thought I'd miss a cubicle, but my current job has open, wall-less desks that you have to book every day rather than having an assigned space, so you can't personalize your desk or store anything overnight. If there's a way to dehumanize a work force, a corporation will find it.
- 35A: A whole bunch of people in a row (MELEE) - "Row" as in "fight." But this word always takes me straight to Monkey Island.
I think that's all I've got for today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!