I would not be surprised if many solvers hadn't heard of it, especially east-coasters. I think PISMO is like the west coast's version of TRURO (a place name that baffled me the first time I encountered it). But it doesn't strike me as a nationally known place. Difficulty of fill offset whatever help I was getting from knowing the theme, and my time ended up being pretty solidly average for a Wednesday.ĭo y'all know what PISMO Beach is? I know it well-it's on the central Californian coast, and I went there many times with my parents when I was a kid. Not sure how I remembered DOGBERT existed, but I did.
not a noun, as the clue clearly required). TSARDOM is a real word but an uncommon one (I had TSARIST but knew it had to be wrong because it was an adj. Started with the initial "O" and thought it must be OLAF (or OLAV) somebody. I've heard of the bird, but barely, and the E-string made me think I had an error. Lots of longer answers that had me going "whaaa?" I know LEAN-TOs, but LEAN-TO TENT? (3D: Makeshift shelter) They come in tent form? BEEEATERS (27D: Relatives of kingfishers) looked so wrong because of those sequential Es. Themewise, I thought this was great.įill-wise, it wasn't bad as much as it was odd. And the answers go off all kind of ways, from the brief diversions of SHA/D and PEA/R to the skyrocketing CHE/ESECAKE. Silverware in the clues, divided paths in the answers. That is, they exist as tined implements in the real world, which gives the overall theme a very nice coherence.
I've never heard of a "fruit fork," but it appears to be a thing, as are all the other forks. I really like the way the theme keeps all the forking in the realm of forks, i.e. I used it a lot to get those diagonal circled squares. I just wanted to sound like I was trying to swear in "The Good Place." At first it was hard to understand what the fork was going on, but the circled letters taking off at weird angles eventually made it easy to piece together, and once you get the theme, it actually helps a ton. I've seen this forking theme before! Actually, I haven't-not executed this way, at any rate.
0 kommentar(er)
