Tuesday's New York Times puzzle solved: February 20, 2018

My time: 10:27, slower than average.

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Joel Fagliano pays tribute to LEXICOGRAPHERS in this puzzle.  Three entries are clued as if from a dictionary because these phrases can also be read as describing a dictionary entry:

"Adj. Under the influence of a drug" is HIGH DEFINITION, that is, the definition of high.  Get it?  "Adv. Across a barrier or intervening space is OVER-EXPLAINED, or rather, "over," explained.  And "N. Spirit, animation" is MEANING OF LIFE.

"Classic Langston Hughes poem" is I, TOO, as in I, too, sing America.

2016 Best Picture nominee LA LA LAND stars Emma Stone, which fact came up on January 22.

UTAH appears a lot in crossword puzzles.  This time it's as home to Zion National Park.

I got stuck on LIVE-blogging, even though I'm quite familiar with the term.  I tried *LIFE blogging and even *LINK blogging.  My brain's not in high gear tonight.

GIN UP for "enliven" isn't an expression I use a lot.

John Wayne played J.D. CAHILL in the 1973 western Cahill U.S. Marshal.  Somehow I dredged that name up with only a few letters of crossfill.

I didn't know what FS1 is, so I couldn't come up with ESPN as its competitor.  It's Fox Sports 1, a sports channel for conservatives who like sports.

NOVA lox appeared on January 17.

NIA Vardalos appeared November 7, 2017.

Clever clues: "Makes the rounds?' is BARTENDS.   "Battle of the bulges?" is SUMO.

And that's the end of that.  It seems to have taken AGES even though there were only a few new answers for me.  BLAH.