Happy Father's Day! It's kind of a Hallmark holiday, but it's still nice for my wife and kids to let me sleep in.
Grid:
My genius list:
Real pangram: GROWNUP
Fake pangram: UPGROWN
This happens sometimes: I'll recognize the pangram is likely compound word, but I'll see (and try) the phony backward pangram before the real one. In this case, UPGROWN seems like it could be a perfectly cromulent word -- There is a distinction between the upgrown trunk of a tree and its downgrown roots. In fact, UPGROWN is a valid Scrabble play. Its counterpart DOWNGROWN, however, is not.
Difficulty: Challenging
GROWNUP fell before too long, but it took me more than one sitting to reach Genius level. If I have to put my phone back in my pocket before finishing and come back to it later, that's typically my criterion for deeming a puzzle Challenging. In this case, two things that always get me -- doubling back on the same consonant in forming short words (NOON, NOUN) and utilizing the UN- prefix (UNWON, UNWORN) -- got me again. I gotta remember those. I could've cut my time in half on this one.
Olio: Merriam-Webster defines PORNO as a less-common variant of PORN, but I contend there is a subtle difference in usage. PORNO more commonly refers to a single smutty movie, while PORN more commonly refers to the industry at large. For example, you are more likely to say, So-and-so just starred in a PORNO, instead of So-and-so just starred in a PORN. Conversely you are more likely to say, So-and-so does PORN than So-and-so does PORNO. In the attributive noun case, either one is okay -- So-and-so is PORN(O) star -- with the non-O version sounding a bit more natural.
And all this reminds me: If you are looking for a good book to read, I recommend PORNO by Irvine Welsh. It's an excellent followup to Trainspotting and the basis for the film T2 Trainspotting.
Grid:
My genius list:
Real pangram: GROWNUP
Fake pangram: UPGROWN
This happens sometimes: I'll recognize the pangram is likely compound word, but I'll see (and try) the phony backward pangram before the real one. In this case, UPGROWN seems like it could be a perfectly cromulent word -- There is a distinction between the upgrown trunk of a tree and its downgrown roots. In fact, UPGROWN is a valid Scrabble play. Its counterpart DOWNGROWN, however, is not.
Difficulty: Challenging
GROWNUP fell before too long, but it took me more than one sitting to reach Genius level. If I have to put my phone back in my pocket before finishing and come back to it later, that's typically my criterion for deeming a puzzle Challenging. In this case, two things that always get me -- doubling back on the same consonant in forming short words (NOON, NOUN) and utilizing the UN- prefix (UNWON, UNWORN) -- got me again. I gotta remember those. I could've cut my time in half on this one.
Olio: Merriam-Webster defines PORNO as a less-common variant of PORN, but I contend there is a subtle difference in usage. PORNO more commonly refers to a single smutty movie, while PORN more commonly refers to the industry at large. For example, you are more likely to say, So-and-so just starred in a PORNO, instead of So-and-so just starred in a PORN. Conversely you are more likely to say, So-and-so does PORN than So-and-so does PORNO. In the attributive noun case, either one is okay -- So-and-so is PORN(O) star -- with the non-O version sounding a bit more natural.
And all this reminds me: If you are looking for a good book to read, I recommend PORNO by Irvine Welsh. It's an excellent followup to Trainspotting and the basis for the film T2 Trainspotting.
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