Take Five is by Patrick Blindauer, and the five that you're supposed to take are the five vowels -- A,E,I,O,U -- and sometimes (but not today) Y.
So when you take five, one at a time, "Rocket Launch" becomes ROCKETLUNCH (17A: Hero in space?) , That lovable monkey Curious George becomes CURIOUS GORGE (27A: Odd ravine?)
My favorite is 38A: Affair with a robot? (ELECTRONICFLING), it just seems appropriate to laugh about taxes the day after they're due.
45A: Ice-cold brew is of course FREEZINGPINT. I have to say that the U-less entry 62A: Aspect of the bathroom? SHOWERFACET is the weakest of the bunch but then I may be prejudiced, U is my least favorite vowel. (Nothing personal.)
One of the things that I most admire about crossword bloggers like Rex Parker and Orange is their ability to find secondary themes in puzzles, words with connections that the constructor didn't intend except maybe subconsciously. So I was looking for connections in this puzzle, like things that people might eat at a rocket lunch. They might enjoy a nice SALAMI (6D: Deli hanger) sandwich, maybe accompanied by an OLIVE (66A: "Little Miss
Sunshine" girl) or two and a chicken LEG (19A: Journey segment). If they get thirsty they could TAKE TEA (20A: What the British do in the afternoon.) And what crossword luncheon would be complete without an OREO (55D: Source of the title material in "Weird Al" Yankovic's "The White Stuff") for dessert?If you're curious about a gorge, you might wonder how a RECESSION (35D: Tough economic time) got SOBIG (6A: Dirk DeJong's nickname in a 1924 novel). And of course if you fell in, you might say OHNO (56D: Words of horror).
And who would enjoy a freezing pint more than a TOSSPOT (54A: Souse)? Especially if it was full of a variety of GINS 31D: Goes out at the card table, in a way). BTW, even though SOT and TOPER show up more often, my favorite crossword souse synonym is definitely "tosspot."
If you were having an ELECTRONICFLING, its quite
possible your mechanical mistress arrived on earth in a fleet of UFOS (59D: Sky line creators, perhaps). And of course you'll have to exercise TACT (54D: Delicatesse) or you might end up with an EENSY (44A: Very small) surprise.As far as a SHOWERFACET, well every shower I've ever been UNDER (65A: Anesthetized) has been WET (63D: Prohibition opposer).
You know, it's amazing, when you start looking at it, how much there is going on in a 15 X 15 square.
5 comments:
Ultra Vi, regarding your comment on the Thursday entry about NYT and NYS puzzles and their difficulty levels. It seems to me that the Sun is approximately a day ahead of the Times. In other words a Sun Monday is more like a Times Tuesday, on through to the Sun Friday which is like a Times Saturday.
Whew, every since I started crossowrd blogging I haven't known what day it was and this does not help.
Yeah, not as easy as it looks, is it?
Glad you are filling this niche, and giving the Sun puzzle the detailed attention it deserves.
Michael
PS nice early 90s Cowboy Junkies reference in your title today.
No, Rex, it's definitely not easy, but it is fun. (It's just this darn job that keeps taking up time that could be better spent crossword blogging.)
By the way, would you agree with my assessment of the Sun's degree of daily difficulty?
Glad you caught the Cowboy Junkies reference. I wore that "Caution Horses" tape out.
Great blog on the Tuesday Sun, which took me far longer last night than the Wednesday Times puzzle. God, this is confusing, not the least because every time I see or say Sun, I think Sunday.
At any rate, I am thrilled to have two very entertaining blogs to refer to when I am royally stuck, so thanks, and please keep it up!
P.S. Loved seeing my nickname (50D: ULTRA) in the Times puzzle and its variant (28D: ULT) in the Sun. Ha!
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