Saturday, March 25, 2022
Hey all! Sorry for the hiatus, but look what the two month hiatus did to me! I made my first 15x15 crossword ever; something good came out of it eventually
Dunderheads happy seeing Michael Scott? There's more sitcom stuff coming ;)
I just had an interesting experience that kind of made me make a puzzle with this particular seed entry. More on that later. Also, like I said, this is my first ever public full-sized grid and I'm more than satisfied with my first themeless attempt. Let's move on to tricky clues. I was supposed to have blogged this days ago but I got distracted. My words seem very fragmented and my diction abysmal. Apologies for the sub-standard language. How unacceptable, no?
Tricky Clues
16A. The first head-scratcher of the puzzle, I think. Angelo is Italian for angel, so the instrument played by an "angelo" would be an ARPA, which is Italian for harp.
23A. "Layers" in a farm does not refer to the soil composition of the field, but HENS, which lay eggs.
10D. I must admit I did not realize there were three Hawaiian entries, but I sure do like the clue echoing in 40A and 54A. Hawaiian mountains are MAUNAS; oceans, MOANAS, known to most as the name of the protagonist in the terrific Disney movie Moana; and NENES are Hawaiian geese, as most seasoned crossworders are well aware.
51A. "I walk this empty street, on the BOULEVARD of broken dreams..." is how this Green Day classic goes. If you haven't heard this song yet, maybe step out of the rock you've been living under and listen to some real music :)
9D. I was feeling rather cheeky, so I made this into a playground taunt: "Who's an EYESORE?" "You are, you are."
52D. Just like Taylor Swift is Tay-Tay, Rihanna, the pop goddess is RIRI. Although I must say it's pretty sacrilegious mentioning Rihanna and Taylor in the same line (I don't respect Taylor Swift as a pop star, or a person).
38D. The crackdown on jokes is coming down pretty hard and I honestly don't understand how did people forget taking jokes like jokes. Anyway, the category of jokes we're talking about here is BRUNETTE jokes, mostly paired with "blonde" jokes.
26A. How can I ever forget CHELSEA Peretti, who plays the loveable Gina Linetti on another Michael Schur masterpiece, Brooklyn Nine-Nine?
62A. I recently learnt that ÉTUDÉ is basically a music piece that is used as an exercise for learners. The shared French roots makes this word a little more familiar to me
3D. I've recently acquired a pair of four-inch stilettos and was so excited that used HIGH HEELS as the seed entry for this puzzle. The word is a good spot for a double entendre: "HIGH" meaning both tall as well as inebriated, and stilettos do have pretty prominent tips. It makes the word play even more convincing and I knew I had to use the exact cluing.
--Priya
Comments