G'day, mates! My time: 9:41, five minutes faster than average.
Theme: a tribute to AUSTRALIA, also called the land DOWN UNDER. Four Australian terms are in the puzzle, each read for half of the term forward, and then the rest of the term tuns backward, underneath the first half. You know, because they're all upside down to us.
"Web-footed mammals" is platypuses, in the grid as PLATY / SESUP. And then there's KANG / OORA, VEGE / ETIM, and finally, DIDGE / OODIR, "instrument played using circular breathing."
Good on ya if you figured all that out quickly! That was hard yakka, fair dinkum it was. Onto the fill!
I hate, hate, hate clues that ask what key something is in. Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" is in E FLAT. Is this important to the work? Is it interesting? Is it unusual in any way?
I also thought the clue "a goose egg," with the indefinite article, was odd and misleading for NADA. Articles aren't often used in clues or fill, and it's really not needed here.
I didn't know that a LIME was used as a gimlet garnish. I guess I didn't know what a gimlet was. I was picturing something smoky with an olive or onion. It's just gin and lime juice.
The figure atop the US Capitol Building is called the Statue of FREEDOM. It's a figure of woman wearing a helmet and holding a sheathed sword, nineteen and a half feet tall!
"Wood rich in tannins" is OAK. The word "tannin" actually comes from tan, which is derived from late Old English tannian "to convert hide into leather," from Medieval Latin tannum "crushed oak bark," used in tanning leather, probably from a Celtic source (such as Breton tann "oak tree"). So that makes sense!
What is FLEUR de sel? It's a term for the thin layer of salt that forms after seawater has evaporated.
ATUL Gwande is a surgeon, professor of surgery at Harvard, and a writer. He is the author of the books Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science; Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance; The Checklist Manifesto; and Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End.
"S.I. VIPs" is EDS. I guess that's an EDitor at "Sports Illustrated" maybe?
In an additional Australian nod, the RUM Rebellion was Australia's first and only military coup, an 1808 uprising in the then-penal colony of New South Wales. It was staged by the New South Wales Corps in order to depose Governor William Bligh, who is one of the few people in history to have two famous rebellions against him.
Apparently the words "spunk" and "slogan" derive from ERSE? "Spunk" is from Gaelic spong, or sponge. A similar evolution of meaning took place in cognate Irish sponnc "sponge, tinder, spark; courage, spunk." And "slogan" derives from 1500s slogorne "battle cry," from Gaelic sluagh-ghairm "battle cry used by Scottish Highland or Irish clans," from sluagh "army, host, slew." Fascinating!
EFRAM Zimbalist Sr. was a violinist and composer. His son was a noted TV actor.
I put FOG IN for "strand at the airport, maybe" because it was clued exactly the same way yesterday (when I mistakenly put *ICE IN at first).
"The time it takes light to travel .3 mm" is a P-SEC or picosecond, one trillionth of a second. I guess scientists need these really tiny measurements.
Did you know ONYX is the traditional gemstone for a seventh wedding anniversary? That's nice. Copper and wool are the "traditional" gifts (set in 1937 by the American National Retail Jeweler Association, apparently?), but more modern gifts for the seventh are ONYX, desk sets, and flowers.
Novelist and travel writer Santha Rama RAU appeared on December 28, 2017.
Clever clue: "A house may be built on it" is SPEC. "Things with perks?" is COFFEE POTS. I also liked TRAMPOLINE for "bouncer's equipment," because I couldn't stop thinking of stuff like velvet rope? "Ones coming for a ride?" is REPO MEN.
Well, this has been a real RIOT. I enjoyed the wacky theme! Hooroo, mates!
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