Say it Like You Mean It (12/07/2020)

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In the words of Hannibal from the A-Team, "I love it when a plan comes together." Today's puzzle is the epitome of such a phrase as seasoned solvers should have no problem flying through the clues to complete the grid. Don't take that as a slight to the author of this puzzle (Ms. Barbara Lin) or the editor. While not difficult in the least, today's puzzle is well put together with concise clueing, a nice mix of word lengths and a minimum of obscure words that may trip up novice solvers.

There is little else to be said about the general fill of this puzzle. Some expected words in a Monday puzzle show up in the form of MEMO, INCA, OPEC, ACRE, AFRO, all of which include either 'E,' 'R' or 'A' the three most common letters found in crossword answers. ACRE of course provides all three. I was surprised, although not displeased, that the most common word ERA didn't rear it's head. Of the rest of the answers only the likes of OBI, XIS, OHO are likely to give solvers of any skill level much trouble. While OHO is a reaction to a quote, and something novice solvers will simply have to recognize and understand, both OBI and XIS are worth committing to memory. And OBI is a belt traditionally worn as part of a martial arts uniform and XIS is the plural form of the letter 'xi' in the Greek alphabet.

Today's theme focused on clever wordplay, taking a common idiomatic phrase and making it mean something literal to our friends in England. While it was a fun exercise in poking gentle fun at the English language, it was neither unique nor challenging. With that said, I remember a time that solving this puzzle would have brought me great delight in having figured out what the constructor was after. It is difficult to adequately review a puzzle like this because I have a bias toward harder puzzles being more satisfying to solve. There is of course a certain pleasure to be derived from seeing a very low solve time pop up upon completion, but it pales in comparison to combing every clue in a challenging Saturday puzzle for that aha moment that leads to a breakthrough.

Looking at it through the eyes of a solver picking up the New York Times Crossword for their freshman attempt, I would have to rate this puzzle highly. It has nice mix of clue types, blending the wordplay theme with gimme, literal clues, general trivia, a few fill-in-the-blanks, and a touch of This-Ain't-Your-Grandma's-Penny-Dell-Book panache. 

Keeping my gaze as that of a first-time solver, the fill that stood out to me the most was 39D's "Microwaves." While I filled in the answer without a second thought, on a critical looksy afterwards, I could appreciate just was that clue was... deceptive. If you'd never done a crossword before, a 4-letter word for two-or-more microwaves would be terribly difficult to come up with. It isn't until one considers that the word could be a verb that an answer comes to mind. Of course, this clue is looking for ZAPS. This is the type of answer that I take for granted, and maybe I shouldn't. 

The puzzle has a single difficult crossing in the SE where a bit of slang converges with a bit of crossword-ese. While I'm no stranger to the word OUGHTA (clued as "Should, informally"), the answer to 54A's "Pouty expression" is one I've never found on the tip of my tongue. Having solved MOUE entirely on crossings, I would have never noticed it if not for looking over the grid to write this review. I've probably solved it before by similar means and simply never taken notice, but this word was an addition to my vocabulary today. Had someone posted it in a manner similar to my CLUE OF THE DAY tweets, I would have been stumped!

I won't bother with writing out the clues and answers for the theme today, since I'm positive most people reading this will already have it solved. (Thanks for reading anyway!). If you're not in that boat, the answers are below.

What I took away from this puzzle was more than just the quick 3:29 enjoyment of solving the grid. I'm encourage to find the beauty in things that at first glance I may pass over as simply average. I'm motivated to strive for excellence in all things I do, not just those I deem difficult or of pressing consequence. I'm cautious to remember that what I consider to be easy might be the challenge of a lifetime to someone else. And I'm certainly not better because of it.

Oh, and of course, I will have to try "Us[ing] French fries as legal tender?" if only to see the incredulous look on someone's face!

I'll leave you with that friends, neighbors and fellow puzzles solvers. Well, that... and "Bit of bland breakfast cereal?"

CHEERIO!

The answers:

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