Constructor: Joe Krozel and Timothy Polin
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: THUS— black square for the letters T, H, U, S. Clues are various "arrangement[s] of letters in this grid," thus (!?):
Theme answers:
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Hi all. I'm away from home for a few days, spending some time with family. Rather than dump the entirety of my blogging workload in PuzzleGirl's lap … here I am. Blogging the Thursday puzzle. I haven't done a puzzle of any kind since Sunday night. Liberating. I should probably take such breaks more often, because even though, as I look on this grid now, in the cold light of analytical reflection, it is clearly pock-marked and awkward, I kinda liked it. I liked the idea of it. I liked anagramming the letters and sussing out the theme answers (though there were very few of them, covering very little grid space). I also loved the long Downs. They were so good that they actually effectively distracted me from some of the terrible short stuff (like EDIN, SSS, ITELL, IME, UNCA, RONAS). There's something GREEN PAINT-ish about GET EXERCISE, but I think it just passes the stand-alone smell test. I think it would be better clued in relation to "advice" or "doctor's advice," but no matter (side note—I quite enjoyed my initial stupid wrong answer: GYM EXERCISE, considering it a. isn't a verb phrase, which the clue clearly calls for, and b. contains the word "gym," which is already in the clue).
I forgot about Tom WOPAT. Until now (38A: Tom who played TV's Luke Duke). I rewrote US law and made CACTI illegal to import for a few minutes there (49A: Plants that are illegal to import => COCAS). I had just one MAN ON at first (25A: Favorable situation for sluggers => MEN ON). Otherwise, I found the rest of it pretty DENG easy. This one won me over by being *different* and by having fabulous *long* answers. Iffy short stuff eroded my affection, but not enough to turn me. Not an A-PLUS, but fine work nonetheless.
P.S. Peter Gordon's "Fireball Newsflash Crosswords" is open for 2015-16 subscriptions right now. These are right-up-to-the-minute, current-events-based puzzles. On the easy side. Great fun for solvers of all skill levels. Here's the info:
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
THEME: THUS— black square for the letters T, H, U, S. Clues are various "arrangement[s] of letters in this grid," thus (!?):
Theme answers:
- 1A: CABANAS (clue: HUTS)
- 21A: SEAL (clue: SHUT)
- 8D: REAR (clue: TUSH)
- 43D: ELSE (clue: THUS)
Areca is a genus of about 50 species of palms in the family Arecaceae, found in humid tropical forests from China and India, across Southeast Asia to Melanesia. The generic name Areca is derived from a name used locally on the Malabar Coast of India. (wikipedia)
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I forgot about Tom WOPAT. Until now (38A: Tom who played TV's Luke Duke). I rewrote US law and made CACTI illegal to import for a few minutes there (49A: Plants that are illegal to import => COCAS). I had just one MAN ON at first (25A: Favorable situation for sluggers => MEN ON). Otherwise, I found the rest of it pretty DENG easy. This one won me over by being *different* and by having fabulous *long* answers. Iffy short stuff eroded my affection, but not enough to turn me. Not an A-PLUS, but fine work nonetheless.
["Why don't you just make 10 louder…?]
P.S. Peter Gordon's "Fireball Newsflash Crosswords" is open for 2015-16 subscriptions right now. These are right-up-to-the-minute, current-events-based puzzles. On the easy side. Great fun for solvers of all skill levels. Here's the info: