We were just coming back up for air after having spent 3 delightful weeks of playing tourguides and innkeepers to waves of friends from near and far, when what should appear in my Inbox but an email from Andrea Carla Michaels pointing me towards a seemingly endless slew of tribute puzzles. And here I thought I was actually going to be productive this week...
Well, of course I can't resist, so beauty sleep be damned, full speed ahead!Here are my musings and tags on the first 3 I tackled...from the King and Queen of Mondays, Tom Pepper and Andrea.
I'll post the others as I am able to steal time away.
At the right is the very apropos KUDOS I get whenever my puzzle is correct - a smiling Will! Today he has even more reason to smile.
(Please click read more below to read my summaries on the 2 ACME and the Tom Pepper puzzles.)
Where'd Will Go? by Tom Pepper
Summary
Puzzle completion time
Solve time
|
Pause time
|
Total time
|
|
tita
|
10min:51sec
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3min:14sec
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14min:5sec
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Overall comment
Tom - you've outdone yourself!!
Absolutely hilarious.
Got BERMUDASHORTZ, and thought -
Will is GOINGCOMMANDO!...till I got to BOXERSHORTZ, and realized all is right
with the Shortzian world...
Of course, we all remember your
classic Monday from last year, making this theme even more of a treasure.
(This puzzle also had a broad age
span, as is fitting the honoree, who remembers when we had to DIALO, but can
also TWEET with the best of them. Nice of you to refrain from cluing ILL in
any other way....the LURING to do so must have been great! (Oh - DNF, btw,
thanks to Natick at OVITZ/AZOV. Is AZOV near AZUSA?)
|
Write overs (word evolution)
22A First of a Latin trio
[AMa-->AMO]
28D "The Osbournes" dad [OZZi-->OZZY] 33A Former Disney chief Michael [OrtiZ-->OrIiZ-->OrITZ-->OVITZ] 22D Sea of ___ (arm of the Black Sea) [AZOr-->AZOV] |
Naticked by: (DNF)
33A Former Disney chief Michael
22D Sea of ___ (arm of the Black Sea) |
General
comments
1A Senior moment, e.g. [LAPSE]
tita
|
I
resemble that remark...
|
15A The March King [SOUSA]
tita
|
Tom
- did you know he was Portuguese?
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16A Official in a striped shirt [REF]
tita
|
Nice
with ZEBRAS at 50D
|
22D Sea of ___ (arm of the Black Sea)[AZOV]
tita
|
obscure
answer
natick |
23A Impertinent [SASSY]
tita
|
Great
minds...the King & Queen of Mondays both using this word in their tribute
puzzles!
|
25D Poli-___[SCI]
tita
|
gimme
|
33A Former Disney chief Michael [OVITZ]
tita
|
obscure
answer
pop name natick |
34D Figure skater Thomas[DEBI]
tita
|
obscure
answer
sports |
35D Sometimes loud hotel amenity[ICEMAKER]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
Only
when your room is right next to it...
|
36D Defense against a sometimes loud hotel amenity[EARPLUGS]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
37A One of two in Scrabble [BLANK]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
39D They're not up for debate[KNOWNS]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
44A Vietnam's capital [HANOI]
tita
|
gimme
|
47A Will, in the Triangle? [BERMUDASHORTZ]
tita
|
wow
nice clue |
Hah!!!
Is he GOINGCOMMANDO? (Inside joke - wink-wink...!)
|
51A Put in danger [IMPERIL]
tita
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nice
clue
|
Great
word
|
52A Suitor [WOOER]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
great
word
|
61A Will, in the ring? [BOXERSHORTZ]
tita
|
wow
nice clue |
Oops
- I guess he's NOT GOINGCOMMANDO after all...
|
3D Mood uplifter[PROZAC]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
Happy Birthday Will! by Andrea Carla Michaels
-------------------------------------
Happy Birthday Will! by Andrea Carla Michaels
Summary
Puzzle completion time
Solve time
|
Pause time
|
Total time
|
|
tita
|
12min:29sec
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6min:26sec
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18min:55sec
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Overall comment
tita
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I like this one even better than
the "Doing 60" puzzle...very funny.
Like the hugs OOOO, like all the
"for short(z)”s... and especially like all the "Z"s! Not only
the mandatory ones, given the honoree, but all the gratuitous Zs, like ZAZU,
OOZE, and of course, ZZZZZ.
(My love of Zs has something to do
wiht being named TereZa, I guezz.). Also love all the places you are sending
Will.
|
Write overs (word evolution)
tita
|
8D Wander about (no, you are not
seeing double!) [ROam-->ROVE]
21A You old world duck, you! [rome-->SMEW] (Malapop!) |
General comments
1A "Hottest Spot North of Havana" [COPA]
tita
|
googled
pop name gimme |
New
test pattern of my mind...thanks Andrea! Also a great 1A.
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4D Spray can[AEROSOL]
tita
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gimme
|
9D Donkey or rabbit feature[EAR]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
12D Arab general bigwig[EMIR]
tita
|
crosswordese
nice clue |
13D Chinese bigwig general[TSO]
tita
|
crosswordese
nice clue |
15A Lots of hugs for Will! [OOOO]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
Hilarious!
|
16A University of Indiana grads, for short(z) [ALUMS]
tita
|
Clever...
|
20A Congratulations!!! [KUDOS]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
21A You old world duck, you! [SMEW]
tita
|
crosswordese
|
Learned
some new xwordese today...
|
23A ___ Paulo, where you should go for your birthday! [SAO]
tita
|
Cute...
Now, I've been here, and I've been to Copa Cabana Beach in Rio, though not to
the COPA of 1A.
|
27A Will's table tennis tour? [SHORTZCIRCUIT]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
61A Will's personal chef? [SHORTZORDERCOOK]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
My
absolute fav, especially since we just dropped our friend's son off to start
his 3-year stint at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) in Hyde Park!
Maybe he can aspire to this position...
|
30D Jews from Minnesota who make films[COENS]
tita
|
obscure
answer
pop name |
33D Domesticates[TAMES]
tita
|
Wasn't
this jsut in hte Doing 60 puz?
|
34D In incredible shape from playing table tennis[FIT]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
36A Instrument of the church? [ORGAN]
tita
|
redirect
|
37D Bread, in Bombay, where you should go for your
birthday![NAN]
tita
|
Hold
on just a minute - isn't it NAAN?? Well, OK, I guess we'll let it slide, in
keeping with the situation...
|
39A Related to an itchy disease [ECZEMAL]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
Hilarious!
I'm lovin' all these Z words!
|
41A "___ Believer" [IMA]
tita
|
Oh
no - conflicting test patterns - 41A or 1A...
|
43D Where you should buy your birthday presents[TOYSRUS]
tita
|
obscure
answer
|
Huh?
Oh - AHA! I get it...
|
44A Huge website, related to Z Magazine [ZNET]
tita
|
obscure
answer
pop name |
45D Valley near San Francisco[SILICON]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
46A Will's little white lies? [SHORTZSTORIES]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
47D Dance, in Koln, where you should go for your
birthday![TANZ]
tita
|
nice
clue
|
Ulrich
will like this clue...
|
58D Italian city, where you should go for your
birthday![ROME]
tita
|
Malapop!!
Had ROME at 21A (Inexplicably...!)
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Hi Tita,
ReplyDeleteGlad you got a laugh or two out of it! Sorry about the horrible natick! I was under the gun timewise, but I could have spent a little more time on it to deal with its weaknesses. Thank you for your kind comments! I trust you were relieved to find that Will kept his Shortz on all the way through the puzzle! :)
Take care,
Tom