Martin S
Oslo
Oslo
@Bradley As someone living in Oslo, I can assure you: There is definitely a fjord here! “Fjord” has a specific meaning - it is an inlet of water carved out by a glacier during the Ice Age.
@Fact Boy I thought Woden was just the Anglo-Saxon name for Odin, so it is the same god and not an “analogue”? So Wednesday is named for Odin, but via his Anglo-Saxon name? In Scandinavian languages Wednesday is “onsdag”, so directly from the Old Norse name Oðinn.
When will the standard answer to “World Cup chant” be changed from OLE to “row”? ;-)
I had hex instead of POX and strive instead of STRIFE, so that slowed me down a bit. A tiny observation on 17A: If Einstein was right about the nature of the universe (and who am I to argue), time is part of the fabric of the universe itself and doesn’t exist independently of it. So asking what came “before” the universe doesn’t make sense - time (as we know it) started with the universe and there is no “before”. But for crossword purposes I’ll accept the clue ;-)
This felt just right for a Sunday. My only quibble would be the crossing of AMC and ASPCA. The first “a” was my last letter. Didn’t know any of the answers, so decided to just run the alphabet. That didn’t take long in this instance :-)
@john ezra «Sick of Oslo»? What?? ;-) But I have to admit that the clue this time was very esoteric - Oscarshall is nice, but not really one of the greatest sights or attractions in Oslo.
@Michael Weiland In Norwegian, «spor» can be a track, but also in a more abstract sense a clue. It can also mean a trace. A bloodhound is “sporhund”, so I guessed SPOOR but have never heard the word in English before. But it makes sense, or should I say “ it tracks “ :-)
@Andrzej Also struggled with HATRACK, but assume lid is slang for a hat? Yes, W is a global hotel chain.
@Andrzej Exactly the same for me. I could do most of it without lookups, but the NE corner was too hard for me this time.
@Andrzej Had exactly the same problems (but knew BART). It didn’t help one bit that I had entered gmats for the tests, of course…
@Andrzej I also immediately thought of April 10 (probably because it’s my birthday), but this is a US crossword, so 10/4 is Oct 4 :-) Otherwise agree with you: Something that is a fun challenge for the constructor doesn’t necessarily translate into a fun challenge for the solver. For me, this was one of the least interesting Sunday puzzles in a long time.
@Lilani Also never seen this in English, but it was an easy guess for me as PRATE simply means “to talk” in Norwegian. The dictionary tells me the first recorded use is in late Middle English, and I’m guessing the origin is Germanic.
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