Ant
Oz
Naticked with EVIE/VIEIERA plus the crosses ASA/ETA and RODAN(?!)/NAIAD made this one a bunch of stabbing in random letters until the music finally played. Not fun.
“TAO” is not Confucian, it’s (believe it or not) Taoist. Totally different school of philosophy.
Way too many pop culture references for my taste. Beyoncé, Daniel Tiger, Ada Twist, Rick Steves etc…. all this stuff you either know it (unlikely if you don’t live in the US), hope to get it on crosses or have to google it. What’s the point?
@Andrew What misguided pearl clutching. In the UK context it is a mild word used in mainstream/commercial media all the time without causing offence and has nowhere near the level of opprobrium of the “f word”.
What no comments? Is there some big event going on in the US tonight or something?
The monsters’ names are just spelt wrong. Doesn’t make sense.
@Killian Olson Brave of a constructor to dive right into the comments! (Like an author braving their own Goodreads reviews…) But happy to give you 5 Stars! Congrats on the debut!
Wow that was FUN! What a great puzzle.
A common mistake but there is no Nobel Prize awarded for ECONomics. The 5 Nobel Prize categories are peace, literature, physics, chemistry, medicine. The economics prize was a later addition named “in memory of” Nobel, but is not one of the 5 Nobel Prizes.
@Matt Clue “long hyphen” is not wrong. 3 different things. Hyphen is shorter than an en dash (which is shorter than an em dash). But an en dash is still a long hyphen.
I enjoyed it! After an initial struggle, very satisfying to nut this one out after getting the revealer. This is what Thursday puzzles should be all about.
@Mean Old Lady Mint sauce and mint jelly are two different things (one had a jelly consistency and the other a vinegary consistency), both are acceptable accompaniments for lamb.
So great to see a constructor from Down Under, and some Aussie trivia as a nice change from US sports! Congrats Sam!
Felt unfair without a revealer.
Such a fun puzzle! And the revealers raised a smile. Thank you!
Loved loved LOVED this theme! So clever!
Great fun puzzle! Clever cluing, no excessive trivia or unfair misdirects. An enjoyable solve.
18D is grammatically wrong. To be “LET’S EAT” the clue must be “Mangiamo!” “Mangia” means “he/she eats”.
@Andrzej 1! And in a world where “KIL” is the abbreviation for kilometer, what is the abbreviation for “kilogram”? Or I guess they don’t have kilograms in the world where they abbreviate kilometer to “KIL”…
Finished with absolutely no idea what the theme was on about (like everyone else here it seems).
Great puzzle! Challenging but fun. Happy Halloween!
@T “WASP” = White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
Looks like I wasn’t the only one naticked on SABRA / CIARA ….
Kind of annoying to end up on a natick crossing two American brands I’ve never heard of: a drink brand and a toy brand…
BOOBIRDS BOCK BATWOMAN = Triple Natick!!
Hmm a rebus with no revealer and no hint dropped in a punny title felt a little unfair, but I got there and in a decent time after all!
@Caitie if the squares are present then they are not “out”?…
A revealer has to “reveal” to work. “Take a number” and “take a seat”, ok. But “take a puff” is a stretch and “take a powder”?! Sorry. No.
The plural of Euro maybe Euros, but currency is always expressed in the singular. In response to the question “what is the currency of the US?” the correct reply is “the US dollar”, not “US dollars”.
If it’s Italian, the plural is BASSI. If it’s English, the plural is BASSES. BASSOS incorrectly jumbles up two different languages.
@Petrol 1! Still no idea what “HOV” is, clicking through the alphabet on one square never a fun way to finish a puzzle…
Too many misdirects and unfair clues for my taste. I’ve never heard an orator referred to as a SPELLBINDER. A LEAD BALLOON goes “down” (not “over”). And the clues for TBD and TOPICS? Really.
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