Constructor: Matthew Inventory and Nam Jin Yoon
Relative problem: Medium
THEME: effectively, there is a “LEFT” / “RIGHT” thingie occurring, however mainly “none”
Phrase of the Day: PUPUSA (42A: Thick tortilla that is the nationwide dish of El Salvador) —
A pupusa is a thick griddle cake or flatbread from El Salvador and Honduras, made with cornmeal or rice flour, just like the Venezuelan and Colombian arepa. In El Salvador, it has been declared the nationwide dish and has a selected day to have a good time it. It’s normally filled with a number of components, which can embrace cheese (comparable to quesillo or cheese with loroco buds), chicharrón, squash, or refried beans. It’s sometimes accompanied by curtido (a spicy fermented cabbage slaw) and tomato salsa, and is historically eaten by hand. (wikipedia)
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Not the type of all-over fireplace I am used to from Nam Jin Yoon, however nonetheless fairly good. That is extra of a two-answer present, and although all the opposite solutions are strong, and sometimes snappy, nothing comes close to the slangy, colloquial heights of these two 14s: “WHAT ELSE IS LEFT?” / “YOUR OTHER RIGHT.” However the spotlight finally ends up additionally being one thing of a lowlight, within the sense that … the phrase is “YOUR OTHER LEFT.” It simply is. I do not know why it’s, however it’s. If you are going to do a theme (or a coy “theme,” like this one) on a Friday, then there higher be good cause and that theme higher *land*, and “YOUR OTHER RIGHT” simply does not fairly land. I used to be giddily typing in “YOUR OTHER LEFT” once I realized it wasn’t going to achieve. Then thought “effectively, I suppose it is RIGHT, however that is not … proper?” So then I appeared it up, and should you google each phrases in citation marks “proper” wins by a mile, however that is solely as a result of “YOUR OTHER RIGHT” would possibly seem unintentionally in a ton of different contexts, whereas “YOUR OTHER LEFT” … is exclusive to this specific gag (which might be what makes it the funnier / extra established choice). Do not consider me? Right here is the “YOUR OTHER LEFT” (not “RIGHT”) entry from tvtropes dot com:
If ever in a comedy anyone tells a personality or a gaggle of characters to maneuver/flip left, you possibly can wager the character/a number of of the group will go proper as a substitute, prompting the phrase, “Your different left!” (Or they appropriately flip left, at which level the primary character realizes that they really meant to say “proper” and tries to cowl with the identical phrase.)
If this does not occur, it is normally changed with a confused change about “My left or your left?”, even when the characters are going through the identical means. […] To be fully honest, although, it is not like this does not really occur with an alarming regularity in actual life. We’re simply speaking about its predictable appearances on TV. For some cause, it is all the time “your different left,” by no means “your different proper”, despite the fact that you’d suppose each happen equally usually in Actual Life […]. A possible clarification is that most individuals, being proper handed/proper dominant, will default to the correct when confused, prompting “The opposite left”. (tvtropes.com) (emph. mine)
So I like / love the power of the reply, however primarily it is the power of the reply that is not really there, the right one, the “LEFT” one. And as for “WHAT ELSE IS LEFT?” … it is a believable query, sure, however it does fairly crackle with slangy specificity of, say “WHAT ELSE IS NEW?” I really wished “WHAT ELSE IS THERE?” to go in right here, however as with “YOUR OTHER LEFT,” it simply did not match. What I am saying is that there is a good colloquial really feel right here, however the entire “theme” angle … it does not actually really feel like they nailed it.
Undecided why, however I am discovering “HI ALL!” an lovable (and unique) little 5 (53A: Pleasant begin to a gaggle electronic mail). At all times good to discover a method to carry some contemporary, conversational power to quick fill. And I just like the clue on SLURPEE, within the sense that I like the thought of the central reply of the puzzle simply making a extremely disruptive noise. All of the artsy mental sorts and SOCIALITEs are sipping their ROSÉ and consuming canapés off of TOOTHPICKs and there is in all probability, I do not know, some mild classical enjoying, perhaps an precise string quartet, after which in walks some leather-clad / torn-jeans insurgent who performs by their very own guidelines, contemporary from the 7-11, and proper in the course of, to illustrate, Vivaldi’s “Spring” — “SLURRRRRRRRRP!” Cue affronted glares from the liter- and glitter- and probably even Twitterati. Finish scene. What, does not everybody create elaborate if hackneyed film/TV scenes from the solutions of their crosswords? Ah effectively. I yam what I yam (to cite a well-known sailor, and a latest crossword). And with that, the [Early morning caller]s are calling, so it is time to take my espresso to the porch and say hi there to them: Good day.
