Saturday, October 14, 2017

My time:  29:54, which ain't great.

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A very tough one from Sam Ezersky.  No theme, just a lot of stuff I had trouble with.  This is going to be a long entry.

The northeast corner caused me the most difficulty.  I couldn't get past *BELCH for "impolite sound" (SLURP) and just blanked on "P.M. between Barak and Olmert (SHARON).  For a while I swear I was saying to myself, "Charon?  Was there an Israeli P.M. named Charon?"

Also a lot of sneaky clues.  "Over" for AGAIN is a tricky, vague clue.  Same for "tough" for THUG.  I like the crossing of WHERE / WAS I ("question after an interruption" --- I kept thinking something along the lines of, "Are you done?").  I wanted to put *AXEL for LUTZ ("spin out on the ice?") and didn't just because there's no way that telenovela starts with an X.  I wanted to put *DODO for BOZO ("dum-dum").

I didn't know "UGLY BETTY" was based on a Colombian telenovela, or had forgotten, but there it is.

For "source of the line 'They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind'" I couldn't understand why *BIBLE didn't fit.  Ezersky wanted the more specific HOSEA.

I've only barely heard of Fetty Wap, and have never heard of "TRAP QUEEN."  I'd rather hear Eminem.  Or Biggie.  Or Lupe Fiasco.

Farmhand in The Wizard of Oz?  ZEKE?  Come on, who knows that?  He doesn't even have his own entry in the wiki devoted to the damn movie!

"Eponym of a North Carolina city" is ASHE.  Uh??  This means Asheville.  Or rather, its eponym, which is Samuel Ashe.  Ugh.

I had no idea that ANITA O'DAY was known as "the Jezebel of Jazz."

AMMAN was once known as Philadelphia.  Did not know that either.

I am not familiar with quondam oil concern AMOCO.  Apparently it merged with BP.  Also apparently there's an (unrelated?) Amoco Credit Union.

Today's EDITH is Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, not Sitwell.  Best known for being the de facto executor of Woodrow's policies after his stroke.

I've heard of Tyra Banks, but not "smizing."  Or maybe I just blacked out that memory.  Anyway, it means smiling with your eyes.  I am hard pressed to come up with Banks' name as the host of America's Next Top Model, so this is possible.

"Symbol of the National Audubon Society."  Bird!  Oh, more specifically?  EGRET.  Couldn't have told you that.

I don't like the verb REUNES, but I've seen it a lot outside of this puzzle, so hey, fair game.

"Half of a 1997 telecom merger."  NYNEX.  It merged with Bell Atlantic, which became Verizon.

I'm a huge super-hero trivia nerd from way back, but "real name of the Green Hornet" stumped me.  Britt REID.  I wanted to put *RAND (that's Iron Fist).

Is a Mazda MIATA really a Fiat Spider alternative? They don't seen equivalent to me.

Why is "idol group" MOB?  Like people mobbed the Beatles?  I don't get it.

Clever clues: "Slams" is PANS.  "Tony's place, for short?" is B'WAY.