Sometimes you open a grid and it looks more challenging than most. For me, that most often happens with this sort of pinwheel appearance. Those chunky corners with all that white space is a THREAT right off the bat (Thanks, Dr. Haight!).
Fortunately, ARENDT and UMA gave some quick purchase in the NW. With ESPY in place and the RE____ at 2D, FRAMEUPS came into view, which made the rest of the corner straightforward. The pairing of AEROSMITH over CLEOPATRA is excellent. And the clue for 26A is a wonderful piece of trivia.
I thought everything would be a cakewalk with all three answers exiting the corner falling into place. But 27A: Sweat ____ (BULLETS) was a stumper for a while. I just couldn't see it. And I also couldn't bring ATROPOS to mind (along with her two sisters, Clotho and Lachesis). So I jumped into the NE corner, HOLIEST giving me something to work with.
I was never a huge fan of Kevin Smith's work. MALLRATS might have been a better one of his oeuvre. And this might be controversial, but I'm not convinced that ICEDANCE is a sport. Fun to watch and very difficult to do well, I'm sure, but doesn't there have to be a reproducible system of scoring for it to be a sport?
Now I was able to find my way to the SW corner. ZOOMBOMB is a great entry, and 53A: Last of the Greeks (OMEGA) didn't fool me for a second.
Finally, the SE corner came into view. PIANOLA and HANDYMAN were enough to open it up. Just like in the NW corner, MOMFRIEND and PLAINJANE are a beautiful pair of answers. And the less we think about the vermilingual tongue of the ANTEATER, the better.
This was a fun puzzle, although I could have used a little more cleverness in the cluing, just for the added spice. But a fine example of a Friday themeless. 6:49.
- Colum
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