My time: 17:58, seven minutes faster than average.
Theme: "Oh, Fourpeat's Sake!" This simply indicates that the themed answers contain a four-letter string that is repeated. For example, in the phrase WELCOME HOME, HON, the string o-m-e-h occurs twice in a row. In PRIME TIME TV, the letters i-m-e-t are repeated. So there's no need to change the answers in the fill or figure out pun clues; the theme just reveals itself as the answers are entered.
I had a hard time getting to SPIFF, a verb, for "neaten (up)." I'm much more familiar with the adjectival form, spiffy.
ARNIE the Doughnut is a book series by Laurie Keller. He appears in both colored picture books and that kind of quasi-graphic novel format with black and white pictures like Timmy Failure.
I've heard of SOHO, but didn't know it was west of Covent Garden. Still, unless I'm a London taxi driver, I can't say I ever really need to know that.
Byelorussia (with extraneous e) is an SSR, but I did not connect the other example, Kirghizia, with its modern-day equivalent, Kyrgyzstan.
ALGA used to be the hot new savior of biofuel, but has since fallen in popularity. Intractable problems have been encountered in terms of the energy balance of lipid extraction, maintaining suitable growing conditions in open ponds, and the immense volumes of water, CO2, and fertiliser required to allow the algae to photosynthesize fast enough at large scales.
ARTURO Schomburg was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Puerto Rico to a black mother and father of German ancestry, he became one of the premier collectors of literature, art, and other artifacts pertaining to people of African descent. He also wrote many articles about black peoples' history.
I'd heard of, but forgotten, ILE de la Tortue, the name of the Haitian commune that occupies Tortuga.
I also have heard of, but could not spell without help, KING KAMEHAMEHA, of Hawaii. The holiday celebrating him appeared in the blog on January 26, 2018.
"Click the circular arrow button, say" is RELOAD. I don't know what this refers to.
A HAWK is an "Atlanta hoopster." They've been named that and located in Atlanta since 1968, but I would never have identified them as an NBA team, let alone their city, on my own.
At last, some etymology trivia. Apparently the word for BIDET comes from an old French word for "small horse" or "pony," presumably because of the way you straddle fixture.
The ELI Whitney Museum is in Hamden, Connecticut. According to their website, it is an experimental learning workshop for students, teachers, and families. They collect, interpret, and teach experiments that are the roots of design and invention. In 1798, four years after Eli Whitney began manufacturing the cotton gin in New Haven, he made arms for the U.S. government at a mill site in Hamden, where a waterfall provided a good source of power.
"Prez #34" caused me some trouble because I put *DDE but it's IKE!
The STUARTS are Queen Anne's royal family. I got confused there when I glanced at it and somehow thought it was about Princess Anne. They're the Windsors!
For some reason, I couldn't come up with Mary Tyler MOORE as the costar of "The Dick Van Dyke Show." She played his wife, Laura Petrie, of course! I also thought it might be *MOREY as in Morey Amsterdam, who played his friend Buddy.
In poker, two ACES in the pocket in Texas Hold 'Em are called "pocket rockets." I've read this many times but had forgotten. I was like, tens?
Nobel Peace prize winner Oscar ARIAS was described on November 18, 2018. He was the president of Costa Rica.
Los Angeles port district SAN PEDRO came up on February 13, 2019.
"Parenthood" actress ERIKA Christensen was clued the same way on May 10, 2018.
The play "RUR" by Karel Čapek was in the blog on December 6, 2020.
Clever clues: "Pin number?" is TEN, as in bowling pins. "Makes Don nod?" is REVERSES. "Base of an arch" is SOLE.
And now, another Sunday is OVA. This was a relaxing, pleasant one, with no brain-teasers or hair-pullingly frustrating ciphers.
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