Friday themelesses often bring me the rawest pleasure of any puzzle of the week because I love love love clever clues. Early-week puzzles can't run many since the wordplay risks going over newer solvers' heads. Saturdays often eschew clever clues, pooh-poohing them as too easy to figure out, turning instead to obscure dictionary definitions for toughness, or entries that in themselves are so difficult (words few people use, or quasi-famous people) that they need an overt clue to give solvers any chance whatsoever. Friday is a sweet spot.
Give me a single devilishly inventive clue, and I'll forgive a lot of infelicities. Give me a half a dozen, and I'll hardly say ABOO about ATRA DEO ERN ESTE. Seriously, it takes a fantastic set of delightful clues to make me look past a pile-up like that in a 68-word puzzle, but I did today. The award winners from the nine (!) outstanding wordplay clue nominations today:
Best Clue, Children: Will Shortz has a soft spot for butts. Wait, that came out wrong. I mean, he uses a ton of "full moon" and "drop trou" references. [Crack jokes?] = POTTY HUMOR? Think about butt cracks. Such juvenile humor might be taking things too far … who am I kidding? Apparently, I'm still ten years old at heart, because I loved it.
Best Clue, Adults: As an engineer, I love assembling things. Last night, I spent 45 minutes putting together a LEGO car that my 4-year old had happily dismantled to its component atoms, insisting that dad could fix it. Just as fun (yes, I loved those 45 minutes!) was the misdirect that a QUORUM "requires some assembly" — assembly of people, that is.
Best Appropriation of a Regular Phrase, Question Mark: "Twenty-something" literally interpreted, that's a SCORE = 20.
Best Appropriation of a Regular Phrase, No Question Mark: Taking turns is a skill my kids are forever working on. Thankfully, no driving-style taking turns are involved, yet. Get off the roads when the day comes.
I put stars by outstanding clues as I go, and today, my piece of paper looked like a Van Gogh painting. Such artful use of the English language.