A puzzle based around show-biz catchphrases! Kurt does a nice job of selecting themers which are easily recognizable to the general ...
read moreA puzzle based around show-biz catchphrases! Kurt does a nice job of selecting themers which are easily recognizable to the general American population. The four represent a wide range of time periods, providing something for everyone. Kind of analogous to the NYT daily crossword, eh? Enough variety and there will be something most everyone will like.
HERE'S JOHNNY is fantastic, not only because it brings back memories of watching the Tonight Show with my dad when I really wasn't supposed to, plus its repurposing for "The Shining" makes it even more memorable. LIVE FROM NEW YORK brings back similar good feelings , and although I've never seen Lawrence Welk or The Honeymooners, both lines came easily to me. All snazzy, fun entries.
I would have almost preferred to not have a revealer though, as IT'S SHOWTIME doesn't feel like it stitches everything together. I see what Kurt is doing here, cluing the four lines as "(Famous person's) intro words" and IT'S SHOWTIME opening the show. But while Ed McMahon and the SNL (not specifically Chevy Chase) opening lines actually kick off the shows (more or less), it's not the same with the others. It would have been perfect if that's the way Lawrence Welk and Jackie Gleason kicked off their respective shows.
Some rough spots in the fill today, COHOE being a NYT debut but being an awfully funny-looking one. Here in Seattle COHO salmon is plentiful, but I've never seen it listed as COHOE. It's an unfortunate product of 1.) theme density and 2.) the 6x3 northern area. Those 6x3 blocks are much harder to cleanly fill than the usual 5x3 blocks, but since the themers are so close together, Kurt doesn't have much of a choice there, because he needs a block separating RAJ and OVER. Hard constraint, producing an unfortunate entry.
Also, FORTY LOVE feels a bit arbitrary as it's not really an important score but more like the ONE ONE or ONE NIL [low soccer score] type of entry. I did really like LOOSE LIPS and MARRY ME though. Not quite sure if it was the price of seeing our old crossword friend ETUI show up, along with the EDT EELER, though. Five themers can be difficult to work with.
Anyway, some great memories brought back by a selection of iconic lines from TV.