Saturday, February 29, 2020, Andrew J. Ries

10:18

It's Leap Day! The birthday of Frederick, from The Pirates of Penzance. Here's a little trivia question for you: what birthday would good old Frederick be celebrating today? Answer below!

We don't get any nod towards this quadrennial event in today's puzzle, just a very nice themeless. I wonder if JANELLEMONAE was the seed today. She was excellent in Moonlight, but I know one of her songs only, Make Me Feel, which was written by Prince and you can tell. Her intro to the Oscars this year was a big mess but a good one.

For your non-QMC style clues today, a good one is found at 36A: Frank type (BEEFHOTDOG). It's a very nice bit of deception because it's so straightforward on a Saturday, that is assuming you figured out that the first word was a noun and not an adjective. Another good one is at 49D: A boom might come out of it (MAST). On the other hand, 43A: Skort circuit? (LPGATOUR) is quite amusing. 3D: List of frozen assets? (DESSERTMENU) just misses, in my opinion. Too many opportunities for non-frozen delights on a dessert menu.

The CROTONRIVER, just a little South of me

I like it when I know a bit of trivia that helps out. For example, 25D: Site in Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco, for short (USMINT) went right in. Similarly with HAGAR.

I was slowed down by putting in EGGRaceS (?!) at 21A: Easter activities (EGGROLLS). I mean, I'm not far off. But the eggs aren't racing, so I was definitely off here.

So much good: BOYARDEE, JAMESON, KOALAS. I also keep on misparsing FUNKRAP as "fun krap," which I suppose is a faint compliment.

Good times. I pass off to Horace starting tomorrow. See you all soon!

- Colum

P.S. The answer to the above riddle, for those who care about Gilbert and Sullivan. Frederick states that "In 1940 I of age will be..." So he will celebrate his 21st birthday that year, or so he believes. The difficult thing is that he (and presumably Gilbert) may have forgotten that there would be no Leap Day in 1900. How can we tell whether he did or didn't?

Well, if he did remember that, he would have been born in 1852, and if he didn't he would have been born in 1856. Since the events of the operetta take place 21 years later, it could either be in 1873 or 1877. But we have a definitive hint: the Major General sings that he can "whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore," and HMS Pinafore was first staged in 1878. Well, that must mean that Frederick was actually born in 1860, so the events of the play could take place in 1881 (I think we have to assume that the Major General doesn't have precognition). Which means that in 1940, he was actually celebrating his 19th birthday.

And that means that in 2020 (remembering that 2000 was a leap year), Frederick is celebrating his 39th birthday.

Friday, February 28, 2020, Aimee Lucido

6:08

After yesterday's astounding puzzle, it was going to be hard to keep up the momentum on The Turn this week. But Ms. Lucido has put together a lovely themeless for today's Friday. It's filled with fun entries and clever clues. Not to mention one of the oddest bits of crossword trivia I've come across in years. Who knew that a TOAD was called Bufo bufo in scientificese? Not I, that's for sure.

I count fourteen answers in today's grid of at least eight letters. That's a nice haul, and only one of them, CONTAINING, is sort of boring. That's thirteen at least mildly sparkly longer answers, and some of them, like SHARKNADO and SIXTHSENSE (I liked the second movie much better than the first - but to be honest, I never saw the first). MAKEITRAIN is also a very fun answer.

We start the puzzle off with a great clue and answer with 1A: See the seasons pass quickly? (BINGEWATCH). Hah! That's great. And it's followed quickly by 14A: Something that requires thinking inside the box? (ESCAPEROOM). Good stuff.

Little touches make a puzzle leap up from good to great. Things like 18A: They're often high, but never dry (SEAS). Or 15A: What mustache-twirling might suggest (EVIL). Or how about 43A: Help wanted sign (SOS). Great non-QMC! It's how you turn even the smallest bit into something that makes you smile.

Of course we have much less interesting stuff, like EPH, RECUT and RELIGHT. And the clue at 41D is queeb inducing. Even though the novel is brilliant, it's subject matter is horrifying. I've been reading Kate Atkinson's latest Brodie Jackson novel, which is as always, completely brilliant. But her theme throughout these books is the ways in which young girls and women are used and discarded. At least #MeToo had a win this past week.

No EARTHSHATTERING insights today. Just admiration.

- Colum

Thursday, February 27, 2020, Andrew Kingsley and John Lieb

7:26

Remember what I said yesterday about not ever being a constructor because I couldn't come up with these ideas? Yup, count today as extra proof of concept. The little blinking clue at the top of the puzzle tells us that today's offering has sixteen (16!) solutions. This was what gave away what was going on for me.

I recognized that there were going to be rebuses in the puzzle when I hit 18A: Mantra chants (O[MS] or [OM]S). I chose to put the rebus in the second square to create 1D: Sounds that can startle (BOO[MS]). But it could equally have been BOOS, just as 1D could be answered with WHO or WH[OM].

And that happens three more times, each time at the site of what look like they're going to be 2-letter answers, which are typically forbidden in standard crossword puzzles. Instead, each one is a 3-letter answer, with equal potential for the rebus to be in either square, creating four possible answers at each intersection. For the record, my favorite pair of alternate answers comes at 33D: Go to extremes, foodwise (FAST vs [FE]AST). That's great, the answers encompassing opposite definitions.

To make things more clever, we get 6D: Quantum mechanics thought experiment in which contradictory states exist simultaneously (SCHRODINGERSCAT), which is one way of thinking about what's going on in these eternally flipping rebus squares. But if you wanted two other ways of thinking about them, you can look at the NE and SW corners. One has 14D: With 16-Across, travel internationally (CROSS / THEBORDER), which the middle letter of each rebus jumper is doing. The other has 42D: With 55-Across, breakup line (INEED / SOMESPACE), with the middle letter leaving each relationship to join the other letter...

Wow. That's a ton. To make it more fun, when I finished the puzzle, the app automatically made the alternate rebuses move back and forth with the middle letter in blue. It's fun to watch.

I'd be happy with this puzzle just with this, but you also get MAROONED, NEWBLOOD, and the great Rod CAREW. I can overlook a RVER for all of that.

- Colum

P.S. Look at the letters that skip back and forth for yet another layer to this brilliant theme.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020, Francis Heaney

5:10

Today's theme is an example of how I know I would never make it as a crossword puzzle constructor. I did not see this coming at all, as I worked my way through the puzzle, and only after finishing and carefully reading the clue at 67A did I get what was going on.

BIL/LIE/EIL/ISH, winner of four GRAMMYs this year, one of which was Best Record of the Year for BADGUY. We're all huge fans in the Amory-Perlman household, and have been for a while. How brilliant is it to recognize that her name could be broken down into four 3-letter strings, each of which could make up the ending of a longer answer?

My favorite is hiding in TROMPELOEIL, an example of which we saw at The Getty Museum in Los Angeles this past weekend, but the other three are all strong, especially HIPSDONTLIE. Shakira really proved that at the Super Bowl earlier this month.

Proof that the Manx cat has, in fact, NOTAIL

The puzzle as a whole has me AGOG. So much that is good, and very little that I MOANED about while solving. I can point to TWOPM, a random time answer, and that's about it.

Meanwhile, I can certainly ATTESTTO the fact that Ms. Eilish's music is neither ATONAL nor AUTOTUNED.

I love HOTFUDGE, and KATYDID is an excellent answer. Overall a brilliant piece of work by Mr. Heaney.

- Colum

Tuesday, February 25, 2020, Peter Gordon

5:09

How many of us know our own STATE's MOTTO? I was surprised to find out that New York's is "Excelsior." My esteemed colleagues who make their home in Massachusetts may not know that theirs is "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem." Showoffs. Translated, it states: "By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty."

This puzzle's theme is individual state's mottos hidden as the first word of a common phrase. It's a tight theme group, as there are in fact only four states whose mottos consist of a single English word, and all four are represented here. That being said, the revealer is more of a "Huh." moment than an "aha!" moment.

Did you know that in the new XFL, you can throw more than one FORWARDPASS, as long as both are released behind the original line of scrimmage? This is one of the many XFL rules I think ought to be moved into the pro game, but the NFL is a stodgy beast.

Meanwhile, I had a few moments that nearly made me cry "SHEETS!" Okay, I exaggerate. I entered PRude for 7D: Strait-laced person (PRISS), which led to 24A: "Quite true" (ITISSO) being incorrectly guessed as soISee, and thus the NW corner was locked out until the end. Particularly since I had a mind block and couldn't recall JONAS Salk.

Unfortunately, the fill is rife with things like plural GILAS (which only ever googles as Gila Monsters), ORCH, ORTHO and random ONEAM. I do appreciate other entries like the peculiar ACTIII, AWSHUCKS, and TRIPOLI.

Anyway, I think that's an OEUF, don't you?

- Colum

Monday, February 24, 2020, Jacob Stulberg

3:34

Well, I’m back in upstate New York, AWASH in colder air than what I’ve been used to in Southern California. It’s a tough transition, but all vacations must come to an end at some point, and it’s the return that helps us remember how special our time away was. Still, going in to work tomorrow will not SUET me at all.

Today’s puzzle was fun. I always enjoy when the theme answers are in the downs instead of the acrosses. The revealer comes at 15D: Activity depicted in a famous 2/23/1945 photograph ... and in three of this puzzle’s answers (RAISINGTHEFLAG). The photograph in question is from Iwo Jima, and yesterday was its 75th anniversary. We’re one day off, but it probably would have been harder to do this theme on a Sunday, requiring six or seven theme answers.

This grid requires only three answers where the word “flag” is hidden backwards (or upwards, to be precise). DININGALFRESCO is the best of the three, with KINGALFRED next and LEGALFORCE last, because it doesn’t feel as organic as the other two. Or perhaps only the first is organic? Especially if you buy free range, antibiotic and hormone free.

Huh. That was a bit forced. Apologies.

The fill felt a tad violent today, what with POLICEDOGS doing FACEOFFS while one cop OPENSFIRE and another several DOSHOTS. Around this time, I suspect, you’re all wishing Horace or Frannie were doing the reviews this week.

To which I say, APSES makes the heart grow fonder.

[Mic drop]

- Colum

Sunday, February 23, 2020, Sophia and David Maymudes

RESOLVED

Hey, everybody! Apologies for the lateness of the review, but I’m on West Coast time here INLA. I know some of the reviewers on this site have been traveling in fancy-schmancy places like France and Europe and stuff, but us true Red-Blooded Americans only travel within the 50 states, to places like Los Angeles. It’s been pretty amazing here; definitely the highlight was seeing the Getty Museum. I highly recommend it.

But back to more important stuff like reviewing today’s puzzle. It’s a pretty classic concept: take a well known phrase, stick the letters RE- on the front to make a new verb at the outset, clue wackily, and hilarity ensues, as we like to say. My favorite examples are usually the ones where the added letters require a degree of reparsing. Today’s was 69D: Places to swim during school? (RECESSPOOLS). Note how the original word has now been split in half to make sense of the new entry.

My second favorite is 70A: Hate getting ready to move? (RESENTPACKING). This time, the reparsing makes you change the pronunciation of “sent.” Otherwise, I was amused by RESTOCKSANDBONDS, but the others were fairly neutral. Your milage may vary.

In other news, there are plenty of fine entries in the non-theme entries. I’m not fond of a DEATHTRAP in real life, but I like it in my puzzle. Also, STRUCKOUT and SIDCAESAR are excellent. I also am fond of a RINGCYCLE, although I’ve never had the opportunity to see one or even any of its component parts.

Fun clues include 7D: Bad records to have (RAPSHEETS), especially when the puzzle also includes a reference to Guinness’ Book of Records. I also was amused by 11A: Calendar abbr. that’s also a French number (SEPT).

I’m flying most of the day tomorrow, but should have time along the way to get the review done.

- Colum