Total | Debut | Latest | Collabs |
---|---|---|---|
30 | 12/25/2013 | 1/2/2019 | 0 |
Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
Scrabble | Rebus | Circle | Pangram |
---|---|---|---|
1.59 | 7 | 10 | 0 |
Rebus today, VEGETABLE SHORTENING interpreted as "cramming the theme vegetables into two-letter chunks." I'm a huge "Seinfeld" fan, so OKRA inside COSM(O K)(RA)MER was fun. Neat how it breaks OKRA across two words, too — I usually think across-word-breaks are more interesting than within-word finds, but I did like SYMP(TO)(MA)(TO)LOGY. Neat discovery!
Before I get flooded with mail, yes, I also noticed that there was a huge flaw, that TOMATO is a fruit, not a vegetable. I was just about to write Frank (Longo, one of Will's fact checkers) when I learned that they're considered "culinary vegetables." It still doesn't sit right for me, but it's not technically 100% incorrect. Enough wiggle room to let this one by. Perhaps.
Nice construction, mostly Stulbergian execution (a lot of interesting long fill and not many short gluey bits). I especially liked how he ran some long answers through the rebus squares, TRENCH(CO)AT and NO PROB(LE)MO my favorites. Typically, rebus squares are executed with short crossing answers like LEA(RN), as this constrains the grid much less than something like TO(OK) IT EASY taking up so much real estate.
I didn't like was the BRANDON / MIDI crossing. I don't mind a lot of proper names in a puzzle, but when they're toughies like NIGEL, HAAS, RABBITT, allowing for the possible error of BRANNON seems underhanded. I even watched some 90210 (I'll never admit that if pressed) and still got that square wrong. Maybe a more direct clue where MIDI and MINI weren't both valid.
Fun solve, although the gimmick didn't have the staying power to keep my attention through a 21x grid. I'm a bit rebused out these days, but a 15x grid would have kept me entertained, given the apt revealer lending a strong reason for the rebus squares. Too bad VEGETABLE SHORTENING wouldn't fit in a 15x!
1 S | 2 P | 3 E | 4 N | 5 T | 6 M | 7 I | 8 C | 9 A | 10 N | 11 A | 12 R | 13 C | 14 O | 15 V | 16 A | 17 T | 18 E |
|||
19 P | O | L | A | R | 20 A | C | L | U | 21 O | V | E | R | 22 N | I | G | E | L |
|||
23 R | I | F | L | E | 24 R | O | O | T | 25 P | O | N | E | 26 S | L | U | N | K |
|||
27 A | S | I | A | N | 28 L | O | N | G | H | 29 O | R | N | E | D | 30 BE | ET | L | E | ||
31 Y | E | N | 32 C | E | O | 33 S | O | S | O | 34 I | L | S | A | |||||||
35 C | H | A | N | 36 T | 37 R | A | B | 38 B | 39 I | T | T | 40 N | 41 O | 42 R | 43 A |
|||||
44 F | 45 O | 46 U | R | CO | RN | E | R | 47 S | 48 KA | LE | I | D | O | S | 49 C | O | P | I | C |
|
50 A | T | S | E | A | 51 D | E | L | 52 L | 53 M | O | O | R | 54 A | V | A | S | T |
|||
55 S | H | E | A | T | 56 H | 57 K | Y | O | 58 T | O | 59 B | A | L | K | S |
|||||
60 T | E | R | M | 61 A | 62 S | K | F | O | R | 63 T | 64 B | 65 A | 66 L | L | ||||||
67 S | R | S | 68 N | A | T | I | O | N | A | 69 L | A | R | CH | IV | ES | 70 P | 71 C | 72 S |
||
73 E | S | S | E | X | 74 D | O | N | A | T | E | 75 C | A | R | E |
||||||
76 D | 77 E | 78 T | 79 O | X | 80 L | E | A | N | N | 81 S | 82 T | O | N | E | D |
|||||
83 I | N | E | P | T | 84 A | 85 A | 86 R | E | 87 M | I | D | 88 I | 89 O | R | A | T | E |
|||
90 S | Y | M | P | TO | 91 MA | TO | L | O | G | 92 Y | 93 C | O | S | 94 M | OK | RA | M | E | R |
|
95 C | A | P | O | 96 U | N | C | T | I | O | 97 N | 98 N | O | O | I | L | |||||
99 N | 100 A | V | E | 101 S | K | I | 102 S | 103 P | O | T | 104 T | 105 S | 106 A |
|||||||
107 V | E | G | E | T | 108 A | 109 B | L | E | S | H | 110 O | R | T | E | 111 N | I | N | G |
||
112 A | 113 M | O | N | G | 114 I | L | Y | A | 115 S | A | K | E | 116 A | I | D | A | N |
|||
117 G | O | T | T | I | 118 M | E | E | T | 119 A | M | E | N | 120 S | C | A | R | E |
|||
121 O | B | E | S | E | 122 E | S | S | E | 123 N | U | D | E | 124 Y | E | L | L | S |
Answer summary: 6 unique to this puzzle, 2 unique to Shortz Era but used previously.
Found bugs or have suggestions?