Years ago, Will Shortz cheekily asked me what I thought about titling one of my puzzles "This One Sucks." Today, This One Stinks!
It's not often that I win "Name that Theme" so quickly on a Wednesday. I guessed it with only RANK AMATEURS, easily filling in FILTHY RICH, RIPE OLD AGE, then the DIRTY BIRD dance. Winner winner chicken dinner!
Huh? It's STINKING RICH? Okay, but doesn't FILTHY RICH sound a lot better? I don't care if it doesn't fit into the space. Or the theme. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Yeah, the FUNKY CHICKEN is funnier to say, and more well known than the DIRTY BIRD. And it makes for a beautifully tight theme. Oh, and it fits into the given space. Humph.
Would you buy, thinner winner dirty-bird dinner?
Kidding aside, the theme made itself apparent so quickly that I jumped straight to each long across answer without needing help from the crossing downs — something I do with easy Monday themes. I was victorious!
Oh, right. There were still 144 more squares to fill in.
And boy, did they take time. It's no cinch to complete a big corner like the NW, even when you have RANK AMATEURS already in place. I did appreciate such a wealth of interesting entries — MOROCCO, BUFFALO, USURPED, ITS LATE, TRAPEZE — those are all assets, I'LL SAY.
Some excellent clues, too, like "radio wave" and "main event" hiding STATES, and GARAGES places for an "auto-tune." They did slow me down further, though.
Overall, a delightful theme, not a whiff of malodor. It's perfect that each of the words is a colorful way to say "stinky," and each can be disguised at the beginning of phrases. Definite POW! contender. I experienced a disconnect between the easy theme and the much more challenging fill, though, which kept it from winning.