Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: Capital homophones — wacky phrases: world capital followed by phrase that sounds like that capital.
Word of the Day: MICRODOT (10D: Pinhead-size spy photo) —
A microdot is text or an image substantially reduced in size onto a 1mm disc to prevent detection by unintended recipients. Microdots are normally circular around one millimetre in diameter but can be made into different shapes and sizes and made from various materials such as polyester. The name comes from the fact that the microdots have often been about the size and shape of atypographical dot, such as a period or the tittle of a lowercase i or j. It is, fundamentally, asteganographic approach to message protection. (wikipedia)• • •
This was just odd. Haven't done a puzzle with this thin a theme in a long, long time. Maybe I'm forgetting something, but three answers?? That's barely there. So, I guess to add interest to the puzzle, the word count is a lowish (for Tuesday) 74, allowing for all those long Downs (eight of them at 8+ letters). That does make the grid more interesting than your typical Tuesday grid, but those answers aren't that scintillating. EMINENCES? (36D: Popes and the like) SODA BATHS? (what are those?) SONNETIZE!? (35D: Write Shakespearean poetry) (I'm sure it's a word, but I teach Shakespeare on a regular basis and never see it) (further, while the sonnet was popularized in the Renaissance, it is not exclusively "Shakespearean"; plenty of writers in other ages wrote sonnets). The theme idea is cute enough. I wonder if it could be extended to other capitals (and even as I'm wondering this, I'm guessing the constructor already thought of this). It's certainly a serviceable puzzle, but likely not a memorable one.- 24A: Lebanese water passage? (BEIRUT BAY ROUTE)
- 38A: Sudanese junkyard? (KHARTOUM CAR TOMB)
- 50A: Big shoe specification in Libya? (TRIPOLI TRIPLE E)
Took me a remarkably long time to get the theme. I was close to, possibly more than half done before I saw what was going on. This was due to my working in my customary top-down, left-to-right manner, which meant I got the front ends of all the theme answers fine, but they were no help at getting the back ends. Well, TRIPOLI eventually helped, mainly because I actually considered TRIPLE E as the first part of the answer when I got the first few letters (TRIP-). Once I figured things out, I sped up considerably. But even so, there were odd answers that kept me from sailing through too easily. Specifically, I had trouble getting the front end of SCLEROSIS (33D: Medical hardening), and then again getting any part of MICRODOT (a word I've never seen before). Had Trader JOE'S for Trader VIC'S (63A: Trader ___), but no other serious mix-ups. If I remember anything about this puzzle, it will be that it contained ZEKE (27D: Farmworker who became the Cowardly Lion in Dorothy's dream) and its anagram, EZEK. (66A: Book before Daniel: Abbr.).Bullets:
- 17A: Red-skinned food (EDAM) — nice, slightly oblique clue for this common answer.
- 29A: Nord's opposite (SUD) — north and south, in French.
- 31A: Fawning females (DOES) — I did not know that giving birth to a fawn was called "fawning," though ... it makes sense. Nice, tricky clue.
- 8D: Rope, for Ricardo (REATA) — I'm thinking Ricky, Lucy, light bondage.
- 13D: Val d'___ (Alpine skiing destination) (ISERE) — if you gotta use this Supercrosswordesey answer, I guess this is as good a clue as any.
- 21D: Fleabag hotel, for short (SRO) — single-room occupancy. I learned this term from crosswords, as I did the other SRO: standing room only.
- 53D: Memorable 2011 hurricane (IRENE) — I wonder if this was clued in 2011, because IRENE ... I don't remember her. But then again, I've never lived anywhere affected by hurricanes, so unless her name's Katrina, I'm not likely to remember her.
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