Drew

Not a fan of this one whatsoever- one of the more unenjoyable Thursdays in recent memory. Far too many proper name crossings, foreign words, stilted entries, poor cluing, and a fun but somewhat half-baked theme made this one an absolute slog to go through. SE corner was one of the worst offenders with WELCHS, WATUSI, TAUTEN. ICERAIN and ISON felt terrible- Never have I met someone who calls it ice rain instead of freezing rain or icy rain, and perhaps it's my inexperience, but I still have no clue how you get ISON from 55A instead of ISUP. I got the theme immediately, and actually enjoyed quite a few of the entries, though I do think it would've been much more satisfying if the NATO alphabet portion of the clue had more to do with the entry. CLYDESDALE, PANDA, and SERGIO set up expectations for the theme nicely. QUITO was one I frankly just didn't know, but otherwise same as above. I thought THIRTEEN was a bit lazy, and would've been a great opportunity to make TWENTY work instead. GAZPACHO is where it fell apart for me- getting that out of "course"is a stretch. Then we have ARTHURASHE, which is just unforgivable. Not only does it break the established pattern of one word theme entries and two word clues, but expects an obscure, proper full name out of "male (double)". In no way, shape, or form do I consider myself an authority on construction, but IMO, this one needed serious revisions and should not have been published in its current state.