Richard
UK
As not previously familiar with the author or her works, I was able to get almost to the end with the kind crossings, so I enjoyed it very much. The only exception was the 26D crossing where I expected OWS…
Sad to say that this one has brought my streak to an end. I like to think I’m up with US terminology, but there were too many examples here that I hadn’t come across before. MATHLETES, WHAPS, INRE, GIVEITTHEOLCOLLEGETRY and COPAPLEA were my undoing. Back to 1 tomorrow…
Well this one was a real slog for me. Took me nearly 2 hours… The main areas of confusion might be because my clothing terminology is based on my UK locale... SKORT - certainly heard of this as athletic wear. Do people also wear them for leisure? SWIMSHIRT - is this a rash guard? I've not heard this term used before. ANORAK - in the UK this is a lightweight waterproof. Not particularly "warm". A couple of others: I've heard of page or site scraping, but not a DATASCRAPER And I agree with the comment regarding snooze button rather than SNOOZEALARM Many of the other areas were enjoyable, but the items above really held me back.
Wow! The most enjoyable puzzle I can remember. Thank you!
It always amuses me how you guys can get away with omitting entire syllables from “aluminium” 😊
@Amy @HeathieJ Thank guys. A streak end shared is a streak end halved… 🤗
Perhaps I’m being picky, but it seems that the answer to 54A has nothing to do with the movie “Independence Day”? It certainly threw me. I was looking for alien references. Perhaps “1776” or even “Hamilton” have been more appropriate (and consistent with the rest of the theme)?
I really wanted 52D to be TED…
@sibelia understood - my point is that neither of those things are in the movie Independence Day. On the other hand, there is a big monster in Godzilla and a “wired” person in Insomnia, etc.
Hey @Andrzej - sheep may shrink when it rains because they’re made of wool, like woollen sweaters in the wash (it’s a joke)
@Eric Hougland I’m sure I’m just being stupid, but the column doesn’t explain it for me I’m afraid. The definition of this word is given, for sure. But not what a “ten dollar word” is. And (now that I know the answer) since there’s only one word, why is the answer plural?
@Puzzlemucker I love this comment. The psyche of a solver 😊
@Roger I think those are more commonly known as Parkas. But there’s certainly plenty of regional variations even within the UK - so who knows!
@Robert I came here to ask this question as well - thanks for beating me to it… As a follow up, I’d be grateful if someone could explain how 1A “sets the tone”? As far as I can tell, it doesn’t follow the theme? I’m clearly not thinking straight today…
@Steve as I say, I’m sure it’s just me being picky, which is just a sure sign that I got stuck :) Thanks for being kind in your comments
@Dave could be a dialect thing. They rhyme in my neck of the woods..
No idea about ZHUZHUP, so I had 31D as PaN, amongst others. On to tomorrow!
A enjoyable Saturday, although I’m not sure about the clue for ONLINE. As an (ancient) technologist, in my experience “e” can “mean” electronic (email), electric (e-scooter) or even education (eMac, back in the day). Whereas some of these are related to being online, using the word “mean” in this sense seems a bit of a stretch. 🤷♂️
I’m probably mistaken, but I thought I read somewhere that answers shouldn’t appear anywhere in the clues? (I was surprised to see answer 21D and clue 46D)
@Warren understood, but (per other comments describing it) the clue is only one “ten dollar word”, so it’s confusing (at least to me)
@Zézito I came here to say this. I finished with this mistake and sadly couldn’t find my mistake without peeking…
@Barry Ancona thanks Barry. That must have been it.
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