mallon - NYT 7:18
Newsday 4:47
LAT 4:28

(updated at 12:10 Saturday afternoon)

Does it make one lick of sense to let NYT applet time hit and then spend 45 minutes making spring-break travel plans and getting all riled up and tired before doing the crossword? No, it does not. It doesn’t make unfamiliar words any easier to piece together. On the bright side, while I may fall asleep whilst blogging, my airline miles are taking me to the Big Easy. Brad Wilber’s New York Times crossword had a few vexing spots:

• [Communist leader?] with a question mark is CEE, as in the letter C that leads off the word Communist. I ignored the question mark and went with CHE for a while. SFUMATO is the [Artist’s tone-blending technique, used in the “Mona Lisa”]. Wow. I’ve never encountered this word before, so I tried SPUMATO for a while. Between the two of those, I was completely flummoxed by 15-Across, [They have extensions]. Eventually FILENAMES asserted themselves there. Before I had any of those answers, I mucked up that corner by putting a set of BLEACHERS at 1-Across rather than SNACK BARS for [Stadium stands]. Another early woe in the northwest was answering [Brown and others] with IVIES instead of TINAS. And I don’t recall a [2004 U.S. Women’s Open winner Mallon] named MEG. She’s a golfer born in Natick, Massachusetts, and PEG would be equally plausible if you liked the sounds of SFUPATO better than SFUMATO. Oh, and also, I had AS is for the [Pricing words] instead of A POP. Like quicksand, this corner!
• The [One-named Belgian cartoonist who created the Smurfs] was PEYO. Did I ever know that? I think maybe not.
• [Its flag features an olive branch inside a wreath] clues a 7-letter country that ends with an A. Wow, that really narrows it down! I had an R in the second square, so I tried ARMENIA on for size. Eventually the KREME ([Word after Vanilla or Chocolate, at Dunkin’ Donuts]) showed up and ERITREA declared its sovereignty.

My favorite answers:

• SNIPE HUNT is a [Futile search].
• BOLO TIE is a [Range accessory]—and not the type of range you cook on. This ties to the WESTERNER who is a [34-Across sporter].
• DIRTY LOOK is a [Glare].

Source: mallon - Saturday, 1/17

                        

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