Neat idea to pick words made up only of I V X L C D M and use them in phrases with a wacky clue. We've seen a lot of Roman numeral ...
read moreNeat idea to pick words made up only of I V X L C D M and use them in phrases with a wacky clue. We've seen a lot of Roman numeral themes over the years, but I like the twist this one brings. LEMONADE MIX's kooky clue relating to the number 1,009 was perplexing at first but gave me a good a-ha moment.
Pretty clean grid too, especially considering the difficulty of incorporating all those Xs. I'll take an ANON and an I GO any day in order to get three Xs. Not as happy to see an EEOC and an OTRA where it feels like it could be completely clean. But perhaps it's difficult to achieve that if ITALICS is set in place, and what a great clue that entry got. [Bold alternative?] might not be entirely accurate, but 1.) it was so much fun and 2.) lighten up and enjoy, people. And realistically, EEOC and OTRA are both fairly minor.
Not only is GO OVER a cool six-letter entry, but I love how it looks in the grid: GOOVER. (Sounds like it might be a geeky Jetsons vacuum.) My brain would not parse that for the longest time; I enjoyed that head-scratching.
Caleb's concept got my gears turning, and kickstarting my brain is almost always a sign of a strong idea. I really liked the general notion of "words made up only of Roman numerals," so it was a bit of a let-down to see XL TEE SHIRTS and XXX RATING. I think I would have given this the POW! if all five had been in the vein of PRINCESS DI and LEMONADE MIX. Tough task though, as I is the only allowable vowel. Still though, maybe LIV TYLER could have made an entrance, or a CROWN VIC? Rats, that last one wouldn't work, as VIC is nonsensical in Roman numerals. FORT DIX or WESTERN CIV?
The more I played with this idea, the more I liked it. Kudos to Caleb for coming up with a cool concept and a pretty good execution.
P.S. IV FERTILIZATION with [Roman menage a quatre orgy?] as a clue. Boo-yah!