Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

Ok, we missed Sunday.  I haven’t even looked at it yet.  I was supposed to be home in the early afternoon.  But after the delay of our first flight followed by the delay of our second flight plus an incredibly irritating woman sitting behind us during the Atlanta-NY leg I was worn out by the time we got home at 9pm.  I’ll do Sunday later on and change the posting date so our syndicated friends will never be the wiser.  Unless, of course, they read this post but reading two of our posts in a row seems like a tall order for anyone, syndicated or not.

Pickles and I had a great Thanksgiving.  We spent it in Memphis with family.  Eating, laughing, geocaching, all the standards.  Saturday we had a chance to go down to Tunica, MS where we ended up winning a little money at the blackjack tables.  All in all, good times.

On to Eric J. Platt’s puzzle.  I thought the theme was interesting although it didn’t entirely make sense to me.

57A. Change abruptly, or what the insides of 17-, 27- and 43-Across do? (TURN ON A DIME).  The three phrases contain the word DIME spelled backwards.

17A. The Divine Miss M (BETTE MIDLER).

27A. Birth mother’s helper (NURSE MIDWIFE).

43A. Connected on only one side, as a town house (SEMIDETACHED).

So, where is the turning?  BETTE MIDLER has always had the DIME spelled backwards.  It’s not like she took the name BETTD IMELER and turned the inside.  Perhaps I’m missing how this theme makes perfect sense to everybody else.  Perhaps I’m taking it too literally and should just relax.  I think the theme is a good idea and I appreciate that Eric found 3 phrases with DIME spelled backwards but it falls just a touch short in the making sense department.

The rest of the puzzle was a great, solid Monday puzzle.  It had a few more difficult entries like IDEATES, RIGMAROLE and Otto HAHN.  IDEATES I only know from crossword puzzles.  RIGMAROLE I always thought was RIGAMAROLE until I started doing puzzles.  And HAHN I still don’t know.  (Apparently, he discovered nuclear fission.  Whatever, like they woudn’t have found that anyway.)  Personally, I like it when a few harder clues are sprinkled within a Monday.

All in all, a fun puzzle with a slightly confusing theme.

Next stop, Tuesday.