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

My time: 5:59.

--

I missed the whole weekend and Monday due to family activities, but I'm back on the train, just as a non-daily commuter.  Anyway, Andrew Zhou created this quite fun puzzle for the vernal equinox, which is one of the year's SEASON OPENERS (a sports term, used here as a literal definition of the first day of a season).  If you read the theme answers with a bit of slur and think phonetically, they "say" the names of the four seasons: SPRINKLER HEAD for spring, SOMERSAULTED for summer, OTTOMAN EMPIRE for autumn, and WIND TURBINES for winter.

Some good fill outside of the theme, like THREE-RING BINDER, GOLD STARS, and STUNT SHOW.

SHEA stadium makes an appearance, noted as being RAZED in 2008 (and, as I know from previous entries, sort-of replaced with Arthur Ashe Park).

I have never heard of op-ed writer ROSS Douthat.  He is a somewhat palatable conservative and has a name that is conducive to ordering him around.

"Pitch-perfect?" is NO-HIT.  Ha, that's a baseball pun.

EDINBORO University is a school in the city of the same name in western Pennsylvania.  Its mascot is the Fighting Scot!  Och aye!

STE.-Foy is a former city in Quebec, now amalgamated into Quebec City.  It is pretty nondescript.

Here's another question about SUMO.  The name of a sumo ring is dohyo.  This is a ring 4.55 meters in diameter.

"Tulsa sch." is ORU, for Oral Roberts University.  This came up with the place name as the answer on November 19, 2017.

Good GAWD almighty, I did this puzzle pretty quick.  And now OWL be going.