Where--if any place-- do we get to chat about Spellin Bee? And why can't it have its own timely column or at least comment list?
Slightly unusual to have so many words not on Frank's list: urticaria, muriatic, tartaric.
As always, I missed some of the simpler possibilities, but still made 19+
My start began to fill in the quote with unlikely combos. VOCAL began as VEGAS and MIGHT, believe it or not, as BIBLE. Unpronounceable consonants lined up and I was at a loss until I checked Wordplay, which, of course, gave me JOHN BYRNE - pause for heartbeat. That was the name of my first boyfriend.
From then on, it moved smoothly. I've been doing acrostics since my late teens and worked my way through many of the NYT spiral collections, but this is the first time I looked at Wordplay for acrostics. I would have preferred that it not have had the full first letter answers right off the bat.
I agree with CYN that a phrase like THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN is too easy to decipher. That's a similarity to solving a cryptogram.
1
Loved the quote, but found the solve difficult. Started with only STAVES and OLD HAT and several wrong guesses. Did more googling than usual, but would never have gotten A, B, and C. Was not on the wavelength this time. However, leaving it and coming back for the fourth time I got a breakthrough with CATERWAUL and KICKSTAND. In hindsight it seemed like I should have thought of more words more easily, but... not this time. Sang the national anthem several times, and although I didn't guess it, thought the clue for HIGH NOTE was terrific!
1
This one sort of solved itself in a matter of minutes. I felt like I was merely going along for the ride.
Not to say it wasn't a great puzzle -- I loved the themed clues and answers, especially those that were slyly-themed -- it just somehow all fell into place very easily for me. A lot of that had to do with the word combinations in the quotation solution -- snippets like "THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN" and "THEN IT WOULDN'T HAVE" -- that took only a few letters in the grid to figure out. That really helped when it came to a couple of answers I was stuck on, like DEMIJOHN.
How on earth did I know that YANNI has performed at eight World Heritage Sites? I have no idea. That one just popped into my head as the first answer, and surprised me by being right. I must've read it somewhere, because I know nothing about YANNI or his music.
So many music-related answers, including many song titles! Even INDIGO reminded me of "Mood Indigo," but I applaud EC & HR's restraint in not using the Duke Ellington tune as the clue, which would've been too easy. :)
Thanks, as always, for a great acrostic EC & HR.
2
No one had HIGH NOTE as a gimme? I guess it's one for me because of current trends in singing the national anthem...
my gimmes were: BONNIE STAVES INCOGNITO OLD HAT. Got Crosby early which led to Sinatra early. Musical cues include DOWNBEAT VOLARE ARTIE SHAW YANNI INDIGO and RECORDING! Impressive puzzle from C&R.
1
I had a fair number of gimmes--INCOGNITO, BONNIE, YANNI, ON BROADWAY, STAVES, OLD-HAT, and KICKSTAND, and still it took me a lot longer than usual. A very nice challenge.
1
Hard but very good. My only gimmes were INCOGNITO, ON BROADWAY, STAVES and OLDHAT. Had to do much more Googling than I like.
2
Hooray for the latest ALV puzzle, Boxing Match. Confronted with instructions that take a while to fully digest, it all seemed so opaque at first. Visualizing the 16 3x3 blocks felt impossible. Then a couple of boxes fill in, and even then the path to a solution still seemed impenetrable. Then another box fills in, and suddenly things start to make sense and the "aha moment" arrives. Just a joyous ride. BRAVO, Thin Van Duc Lai, and please accept this humble request to maintain this difficulty level, which I assume is on the easier side, for a couple of weeks before you start pummeling our brains!
I had a similar sharp learning curve, due to the complexity of the instructions more than anything. But once I saw it, I figured out a bit of good strategy that involves imagining two nearly-overlapping boxes and the implications of that for filling in blanks. Now a whole week has to go by before I get to try it again.
Delightful offering from EC & HR.
1
Switchbacks is one of my favorite “middle” puzzles.
For a change, I did not have to search for any of the answers in a puzzle, not even the TV question. (Entertainment-related answers I frequently must search for.)
[SPOILER ALERT]
It must be a coincidence that this week I find myself questioning the cluing in two different puzzles.
The cluing of TRUSTS IN was a little strange. In real life, if one were merely giving somebody the benefit of the doubt, would that be truly trusting in him? In fact, I first thought that that answer would be LETS OFF.
1
[SPOILER ALERT]
This Acrostic was challenging, and certainly included many answers that related to the quote.
Even STAVE, which can also be another name for a musical staff.
My only absolute gimmes were STAVE, WHISPER and BONNIE.
Among those I had to search for were answers A, B and C.
For the math clue, I tried ADDITION and then DIVISION.
(I would assume that most people did.)
I only got NUMERACY late in the solve. It also occurred to me that “skill” in the clue really should have been “skills”.
4
Your assumption was correct in my case, Jerrold; addition then division, but for me, NUMERACY had to fill in.