Thursday February 28th 2019, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 29:18
Thursday Average: 25:22
Best Thursday: 10:18

I worked on this Thursday late last night on the flight from Cebu to Bangkok and again this morning over breakfast and, if my time doesn’t make this clear, it gave me quite a scare. Strangely, it wasn’t the Thursday weirdness that got me, as I understood that fairly quickly. Essentially, the tricky clues were puns on the first letter of the answers, which is difficult to explain so I’ll just do my usual bullet points:
  • “Blue jays:” JASMINE AND JEANS. So, we have two words that begin with J (Jays) and often have the word “blue” preceding them. I basically had to guess on the Blue Jasmine part as something that sounded vaguely like it might be a thing, but apparently it’s a 2013 Woody Allen film starring Cate Blanchett. This seems random and not the strongest for your theme material.
  • ”Honey bees:” BADGERS AND BEARS. I have heard of honey badgers and honey bears, so I’ll take it.
  • ”Dry eyes:” ICE AND INK. Dry ice is a common item, but dry ink is less exciting. 
  • “High seas:” COMEDY AND CRIMES.
  • ”Green peas:” PEACE AND PEPPERS. 

I’m more impresssed by the theme clues that the constructor found than by most of the answers. 

Probably my main struggle was the clue “”Unlikely source of a silk purse” because I’ve never heard the phrase and really couldn’t parse SOW’S EAR. Apparently, “to make a silk purse of a sow’s ear” is a phrase meaning to create something fine out of base materials. I didn’t know it, but, as the mural next to me says, “Education is for everyone and endless.” 

“Smooths over” for RESANDSis ridiculous.

I completely forgot about “Keglers” as another word for bowlers, which gives us PBA. Yay.

The NW didn’t really fall for me until I managed EMIGREfor “Albert Einstein, notably” and then I confirmed OBADIAH, which I don’t remember being a particularly short Old Testament book, but I’ll trust you, NY Times. 

Tonight the plan is to find a particular Pad Thai food stall that apparently has a Michelin Star. Hello, Friday in Bangkok. 

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