I haven't laughed so hard at a themeless entry in a long time: UP THE WAZOO! It might speak to my juvenile-at-heart personality, but ...
read moreI haven't laughed so hard at a themeless entry in a long time: UP THE WAZOO! It might speak to my juvenile-at-heart personality, but it's such a funny thing to say. Along with POLICE RAID and STATE SEALS — with a delightfully obfuscating clue about where Delaware and Minnesota have farmers — it's a fantastic triplet.
I appreciate how careful Ori was in putting this grid together, too. Perhaps some will balk at SO RARE, but I'm okay with that song title. At least it's two recognizable words! Excellent craftsmanship, taking such pains to polish up the grid with elegance; so little crossword glue.
Speaking of two random words:
BLACK MIRROR. I've heard the title before, and a few friends gush over the show. I don't know how popular it is, but at least if you don't know the series, you can use the crossings to fill in what will be two recognizable words.
ICEBOX CAKE. I'm a huge "Great British Bake-Off" fan, having watched every episode of every season. I didn't know this term, though. Again, at least CAKE ought to be familiar. (ICEBOX refers to the fact that it used to be chilled in an ICEBOX, in olden days.)
LIVER EMOTE. I knew newscasts were trying to get jiggy wit it, go all modern and social media-y and all. I had no idea that they were commonly using emoji now, much less liver emoji. I bet they use these ... when they're presenting bad news, since, in myth, the liver was the organ ripped out of Prometheus every night?
(I kid. But I also got stumped by the wombo-combo of ICEBOX CAKE / LIVE REMOTE.)
Solid work, great craftsmanship. It felt too niche in places for me to give it POW! consideration, but I can see how a BLACK MIRROR fan might vehemently demand that I reflect upon my decision.