OO! OO! I know what this theme is! Sorry, I couldn't help myself. GOO GOO EYES is a hilarious term. At first, I wasn't sure if it ...
read moreOO! OO! I know what this theme is!
Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
GOO GOO EYES is a hilarious term. At first, I wasn't sure if it described the theme well enough, though. Doesn't OO look more like "surprise" more than "puppy-dog adoration"? And why two pairs of eyes in each themer?
But sometimes you have to just go with it. Sure, why not.
I liked Stu's themer choices, all strong phrases in their own right. Especially nice to get the extra-long TOO RICH FOR MY BLOOD. It's not every day that you see a 17-letter phrase in a weekday crossword.
In that vein, it would have been nice to get more of them — perhaps CUTTING ROOM FLOOR (16), HOOCHIE COOCHIE MAN (17), SHOOTS FOR THE MOON (16), etc.? Maybe go even bigger with CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO 19 — with three pairs of goo goo eyes!
That speaks to a lack of tightness issue. In my quick search, I turned up hundreds of words / phrases with double-double-Os. It would have been nice to narrow the options down somehow, with an extra layer of cleverness. One example might be to use DOUBLE O SEVEN as a revealer, and pick phrases with OOs … related to spies!
But overall, a solid rebus offering. I liked that Stu even had a few good crossing OOs, like BASSOON and OO LA LA! All too easy to rely on shorties like OONA and DROOP to make things work.
Also impressive that there was relatively little crossword glue, given the high theme density (I like the as-published grid much better than Stu's original). I'd have preferred one fewer themer in exchange for less AREAR IFI OCTO IDEE, but I can understand why others might like the fifth themer, at the price of a little inelegance in execution.