Thursday February 7th 2019, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 21:31
Thursday Average: 25:27
Best Thursday: 10:18

I woke up around 4am and had to wait until 6:30 to get breakfast and then found that I had another two hours to wait until the crossword would be available. Of course, I took advantage of the opportunity to sip far too much coffee and catch up on some Indie crosswords, which generally speaking are better than the NY Times anyway. Specifically, I caught up on Crossword Nation and the American Values Club.

That said, I DARE SAY that this Thursday was worth the wait. I more or less immediately knew the longer theme answers without grokking the theme itself, so all I had to do was wait and see where the extra letters were going. GO OVER THE EDGE revealed that the letters "G O" would be spilling over the sides of the puzzle, which allowed me fill in TAKES TWO TO TAN(GO), (GO)ODNIGHT IRENE, and CARMEN SANDIE(GO). That led to a battle of the earworms inside my head for dominance, with Michelle Shocked singing "Good night, Irene" winning out. Of course, we get a double dose of potential Rockapella in this puzzle with both Carmen Sandiego and ZOMBIE Jamboree being possibilities. Now that I think about it, I won the "Carmen Sandiego Prize" at work for my various travels, but it was a reference that went over the head of most of my young coworkers. Perhaps her return to Netflix will fill that gap in their education.

Other themers were (GO)LD TEETH, CHICA(GO), (GO)LF GAME, and (GO)SLINGS. They aren't laid out symmetrically, which made a few of them, particularly Goslings, quite difficult.

Sir William OSLER, for those of you who struggled as I did with this clue, is sometimes referred to as The Father of Modern Medicine and is one of the four founders of Johns Hopkins. He also sported a fetching mustache.

Now I'm off to see how I MANAGE jetlag this time around. Maybe all that coffee wasn't such a great idea. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2019 at 5:15 PM

    Where in the world is carmen sandiego was one of like 3 tv shows i was allowed to watch as a kid and the only one that was even a tiny bit fun. Also, ill go with the Waits goodnight irene, myself...

    ReplyDelete

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