Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 28, 2021

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 27, 2021

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 26, 2021

Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 24, 2021

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 23, 2021

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 22, 2021

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 21, 2021

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 20, 2021

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 19, 2021

Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 18, 2021

Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 17, 2021

My time: 6:04, a minute slower than the record.

Theme: APES, with an additional MONKEY I/N/ T/HE/ MIDDLE.

The themed Across answers all have ape within their letters, like the apt BANANA PEEL and the much less apt AMANDA PEET ("'Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip' co-star"). 

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 16, 2021

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solvd: February 15, 2021

My time: 5:23, only six seconds faster than average.

Theme: WHITE HOUSE DOGS.  The four themed answers begin with the names of presidential dogs, and these answers are clued as the definition plus the name of the president in brackets.  I suppose this is to celebrate that we have a normal human with normal human emotions like love and caring in the White House again, one who likes dogs.

For example, BUDDY COP MOVIES is clued "'Rush Hour' and '21 Jump Street' [Clinton]."  

I'm not a car guy, so the fact that CAMARO is a model of Chevrolet is not one readily available to me.

For "vittles" I initially put *EATS but it's the more earthy GRUB.

"TV deputy of Mayberry" is BARNEY FIFE.  That's Bush W., #43's dog!  He was a Scottish terrier.

"The Buddha is often depicted meditating on it" is BO TREE.  I don't think I've heard it called that, and was fairly confused.  I know it as a Bodhi tree.  The oldest plant in the world of known planting date is the bo tree called Sri Maha Bodhi planted at the temple at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, in 288 BC.  Bo was Obama's dog, a big fuzzy Portuguese water dog.

A bit of Hawaii in this puzzle: KAILUA is a location, also on Oahu, that is a big windsurfing destination.  It was home to Barack Obama’s winter White House. 

C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C is an example of a MAJOR SCALE.  Also called the Ionian mode, the major scale is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales (containing five whole steps and two half steps). Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at double its frequency so that it is called a higher octave of the same note (from Latin "octavus," the eighth).  This about as much musical notation I can understand.

I've never heard of this but I love it: "When Yuba Plays the Rhumba on His Tuba," a 1931 hit by Rudy Vallee.  He plays it in Cuba.  The Revelers also did a version.

Never heard of ISLA Verde, an area just outside of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico. 

The last presidential dog isn't found in the main themed answers, but the penultimate Down clue: "Pres with the pooch Heidi" is IKE.  She was a Weimeraner.

"Basketball players, quaintly" is CAGERS.  This baffled me today and when it came up on August 23, 2020.

The IRS form 1099-INT came up on September 8, 2018.

Waikiki Beach, located on OAHU, was last in the blog on July 9, 2018.

Elsa of Arendelle last appeared on October 27, 2020.

I thought this one was quite difficult for a Monday!  Lots of new material to me, and a few fairly vague clues, like "more than magnificent" for EPIC.

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzle solved: February 14, 2021

My time: 23:10, only about a minute faster than average, but that's still pretty good for a rebus that has four letters in each box.  Still, I'm not sure why it took even as long as it did; there wasn't a huge amount of new information in this one.

Theme: a Valentine's Day theme, titled "Sealed With a Kiss."  The rebus squares are outlined in red.  Each of these squares includes RED plus the next letter of the answer.

The first one I got was JA[RED L]ETO, because I knew he won a Supporting Actor Oscar for The Dallas Buyer's Club.  When I saw that those were the letters in the square, I figured each one probably started with red since they were outlined in red.  Once I knew that, some of the rebus answers came a bit faster.

The extra letters in the rebus squares, when read left to right and top to bottom, spell out ruby lips.

I've heard of PANsexual, but I thought the other "prefix with sexual," at four letters, might be omnisexual.  It's AMBIsexual, which seems to be an outmoded term for bisexual.

I like how the British "prats" is ARSES. 

Keeping with the British motif, "barrister's deg." is LLD, which is abbreviated for Legum Doctor, Latin for "teacher of the laws" and thus abbreviated accurately as LL.D.  The double "L" in the abbreviation indicates the plural. 

And more Brits: F[RED P]ERRY was a tennis champion who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slam tournaments and two Pro Slams single titles, as well as six Major doubles titles.  In the late 1940s, Perry was approached by Tibby Wegner, an Austrian footballer who had invented an anti-perspirant device worn around the wrist. Perry made a few changes to create the first sweatband.  His name is now a clothing brand.  Moronic right wingers have adopted one of their black and yellow shirts as a symbol, an inanity that the copy repudiates.

Never heard of soubise sauce, made by sautéeing ONIONS and adding them to a basic béchamel sauce. 

"Sea lion, for one" is EA[RED S]EAL.  They comprise 15 extant species in seven genera (another species became extinct in the 1950s) and are commonly known either as sea lions or fur seals, distinct from true seals (phocids) and the walrus (odobenids).  Well, that's sorted, then.

The BUSHTIT, a small woodland songbird, has the funniest name of all avifauna.

I had an idea that Mango Madness was a flavor of the many SNAPPLES, but I hesitated, because Go Bananas?  Really?  Don't knock it till you've tried it, I guess.

I don't know any regional capitals.  PAPEETE is the capital of French Polynesia on Tahiti.

"Debussy prelude inspired by a water sprite" is ONDINE.  The story, of course, concerns a water nymph whose deadly powers prove lethal to the mortal who betrays her love.

"West coast beer brand, in brief" is OLY, which is Olympia, as explained on July 15, 2018.

"Wheel of Fortune" freebies RSTLNE appeared on November 19, 2020, the "Wheel"-themed puzzle.

Capital of Yemen SANAA came up on June 26, 2020, but I just keep forgetting how to spell it.  This time I put *SAMAA.

Clever clues: "Opposite of a standing order?" is BE SEATED.  "Rules out?" is ANARCHY.  "Post production" is CEREAL.  "They'll be mist" is AEROSOLS.  "Place with robes and sweaters" is SAUNA.

And that wraps it up with a bow.  Happy Valentine's Day!  Lisa Bunker, who constructed this puzzle, is certainly NO SLOUCH in the crossword department.

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 13, 2021

My time: 16:25, three minutes faster than average, but ten minutes slower than my record.

I had some trouble with a few clues that gave nothing away in their generic wording.  "Chocolate or caramel," for example, turns out to be HUE.  Or "monitor" for LIZARD.

Apparently some MOTHS don't have mouths.  How do they eat?  They don't!  They live a week, mate, and die!  That's kind of sad.

For "Hajj, e.g." I put *TREK but it's RITE.

I don't like "metaphorical setting in which everything is inverted from the norm" for BIZARRO WORLD.  I mean, I understand that through popular use it's sort of an expression devoid of its original context, but it is primarily a fictional place copyrighted by DC Comics.

Arg, New York Times puzzle, don't remind me how Twitter always sorts your searches by TOP when everyone prefers sorting by most recent.

"Every fault's condemned ERE it be done" is said by Angelo to Isabella in "measure for Measure."  He's sanctimoniously explaining how he must condemn her brother Claudio (for having sex outside of marriage), even though he's open to pardoning her brother if she'll sleep with him, Angelo.  And thenhe condemns Claudio anyway!

I vaguely remembered NELLIE Bly, pioneering investigative journalist who went around the world in 72 days and also exposed cruel practices in the mental asylums of the time.

I am old enough to remember using the programs Drive and Docs, but forgot they were called G SUITE.  It's called Google Workspace now.

I have never heard of the White House Correspondents' Dinner being called NERD PROM.  Ugh.

For "part of a company" I put *PLAYERS, thinking of a touring company, but it's PLATOON.

Apparently SHO is the sister channel of Flix?  I never even heard of Flix.

Championship-winning basketball coach STEVE / KERR was in the blog on September 18, 2018, but I failed to mention that he is the head coach of the Golden State Warriors.

Clever clues: "Wait here!" is RESTAURANT.  "Holiday production?" is BLUES MUSIC.  "Many are under the influence of this at college parties" is PEER PRESSURE.  "Really impress?" is ETCH.  "They have many small teeth" is ZIPPERS — I put *NIPPERS at first!  "Main course?" is SEA ROUTE.

This was a tough Saturday for me!  Lots of punning clues and, as noted, ambiguous clues.  It was still fun, though.

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 12, 2021

My time: 11:14, four minutes faster than average.

The northwest corner was my bugbear on this one, even though an answer there, ISRAELI, was one of the first I put in.  Both the devious clue "Star Bucks, say?" and the letter soup of the answer, NBA MVPS, kept me frustrated for some time.

"Major retail outlets" is EMPORIA.  Yuck.

The ambiguity of the word "let" in "let someone know if you can go" had me putting in a present tense answer — *RSVP TO — but this "let" is the past tense: RSVP'ED.

"OH, TO be in England" is the first line from Robert Frost's poem "Home Thoughts From Abroad."

PERIDOT is apparently "one of the few gemstones that naturally occurs in a single color (olive green)." The exclusively green peridot is August's birth stone.

Fourteenth-century Grand Duke of Moscow IVAN I made Moscow very wealthy by maintaining his loyalty to the Mongol Horde (hence, the nickname Kalita, or the Moneybag). He used this wealth to give loans to neighboring Russian principalities. 

I had a hard time with MANSPLAIN in the northwest corner, probably because I had the -plain part first and got fixated on that.  I put *MAKE PLAIN and then *LAYS PLAIN.

"Trick, in slang" is HOSE?  Yep.  No LIE!

U.S. Route 20 is 3,365 miles long if it's a MILE.  It's the longest road in the United States.

ED ASNER just came up as playing Captain Davies in "Roots."  Today he's clued as playing Warren Buffett, as described on May 26, 2018.

Italian dessert TORTONI has been in the blog a few times before.  Today it's clued as being "topped with crumbled macaroons."  It can also be topped with almonds or chocolate shavings.

Crossword mainstay ARI Melber was in the blog as recently as January 19.

On September 9, 2018, I wrote that "although I'm familiar with them, I guess I never knew for sure that Chevy makes the 'VETTE," and that seems to still hold true, because the answer just wasn't coming.

Clever clues: "Trap" is PIEHOLE.  "A famous one is often connected with a school" is PAINTER.  "It's always up to something" is STAIRCASE.  "Melon seeds?" is IDEAS (we've had the same answer clued as "bean sprouts?" before).

I liked this one.  Interesting fill included PEACHY KEEN, SPHINX, MANSPLAIN, THE EURO, WATCH CHAIN, XXX RATED, and DERBY HATS.

Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 11, 2021

My time: 8:26, six minutes faster than average.

Today's theme plays with irregular plurals.  The four themed Across answers are created by starting with a two-word phrase that happens to contain a letter string that spells out an irregular plural.  To appear in the grid, the answers have that letter string taken out, and replaced with a doubled singular of the plural.  The doubled singular is then shown in grey squares.

So, for example, "what a pratfall may be done for" is comedic effect.  But the irregular plural hidden in that phrase, dice, is replaced with its singular twice: COMEDIE DIEFFECT.  Mentally replacing the "die"s with dice you get COME[dic e]FFECT.

Similarly, "where magazines may be laid out" is coffee table.  It's entered in the grid with the feet part replaced with two "foot"s: COFFOOT FOOTABLE.  Read that as COF[fee t]ABLE.

It's a very clever piece of construction, but I do wish there were a sort of explanatory clue or capper to bring it all together.

Actress Anne MEARA was in the puzzle on November 20, 2018, but today she is clued as having four Emmy nominations.  Two of those were Supporting Actress for "Archie Bunker's Place," one for a guest role on "Homicide," and one is for her starring role in the drama "Kate McShane."

The Hindu honorific MAHARISHI derives from Sanskrit for "great sage."

For "what a swish misses" I put *NET but it's RIM.

I had no idea the Super Bowl was held in TAMPA.  That's nice.

RHYME PAYS is the 1987 debut album by Ice-T, one of the first in the West Coast gangsta rap genre.

I know LLCS are Limited Liability Corporations, but "pass-through taxation" is new to me.  All of the profits and losses of the LLC "pass through" the business to the LLC owners (called members), who report this information on their personal tax returns. The LLC itself does not pay federal income taxes, although some states impose an annual tax on LLCs.

I know NEVIL Shute's book On the Beach, but I don't think I knew he wrote A Town Like Alice.  It's about a young Englishwoman who becomes romantically interested in a fellow prisoner of World War II in Malaya, and after liberation emigrates to Australia to be with him.

"BETCHA By Golly, Wow" is a 1972 hit by the Stylistics. 

I know the statue outside Rockefeller Center is ATLAS mainly because of the intro to "30 Rock."

Calabria, a region of Italy, is located in the TOE of Italy.

Sour fruit SLOE was in the blog on November 24, 2020.

We learned that the CDC is headquartered in Atlanta on January 21.

Movie mogul Marcus LOEW was spotlighted on September 12, 2020.

Clever clues: "Oak, in a nutshell?" is ACORN.  "Change in the Middle East, say" is DINAR.  "Razor handle?" is OCCAM.  "Got into the swing?" is SAT.

This one flummoxed me at first with its weird letter rearrangement, but outside of the theme, there wasn't much difficulty.  In fact, based on my time I'd say it was easy for a Thursday.

Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 10, 2021

 

My time: 6:15, one minute slower than the record.

Theme: STOUT, the kind of beer, meant to be read as "ST" OUT.  That is, several phrases that start with st have the first two letters removed and then clued as they read.

For example, "the main characters of Brokeback Mountain" is RANGE BEDFELLOWS, a play on strange bedfellows.  And "'Strike three!' or 'Yer out!'" is UMP SPEECH, not stump speech.

I particularly like "way to catch a conger?"  My mind is like an EEL TRAP!

I had no idea that HANOI is so old!  It's "home to the Temple of Literature, built in 1070."  The temple also hosts the Imperial Academy, Vietnam's first national university. The temple was built in 1070 at the time of Emperor Lý Thánh Tông. It is one of several temples in Vietnam which is dedicated to Confucius, sages and scholars.

I've watched a Kentucky Derby or two, but couldn't have told you that it's in MAY.  Well, this year it starts on April 30, so I guess the NYT doesn't know everything.

Also in sports, Wayne Gretzky won NINE M.V.P. awards.  In the NHL this award is called the Hart Memorial Trophy, named for Cecil Hart, the longtime head coach of the Montreal Canadiens.

ASH is the tree that can come in green, black, or white varieties.  I was thinking of putting *TEA.

"Sesame Street" segment "ELMO'S World," with his buddy Mr. Noodle, was referenced on July 11, 2020.

This was another puzzle that I just clicked on.  Barely anything new, and with clues that, while somewhat ambiguous *like "appropriate" for CO-OPT), weren't particularly devious.  I liked the funny theme, and I always appreciate a helpful capper that explains the wordplay.

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 9, 2021

My time: 5:06, two and a half minutes faster than average.

Theme: a rather simple one — three phrases in the second person involving clothing.  For example, HANG ON TO YOUR HAT ("get ready for something amazing").

Apparently in archery if you score a bullseye you get NINE points.  In the Imperial variant, it seems.  The center ring of an international target is worth 10 points.

FLORA means plants, but here is clued as the Roman goddess of flowering plants, or as the clue reads, of spring. 

GIN is "drinking game?"  Other than the fact the word means two things, I don't see the joke there.  The card game isn't done while drinking, and the drink isn't a game.

Clever clue: "Grant for a filmmaker?" is HUGH.

This was a pretty bland crossword, with a similarly uninteresting theme.  A ho-hum, but not bad, Tuesday.

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 8, 2021

My time: 4:27, a minute faster than average.

Theme: LET YOUR HAIR DOWN.  The three long Down answers have a hairdo embedded in them, shown by the circled squares.  For example, DISCOMBOBULATED has a bob hairdo.

"Musical key with three flats" is C MINOR, which would mean more to me if I knew what a key or a key signature is.

For "banned pollutant, in brief" I put *DDT but it's PCB, short for polychlorinated biphenyl.  Their production was banned by United States federal law in 1978, and by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2001.

ASTORIA, Queens, was originally called Hallet's Cove after its first landowner William Hallet, who settled there in 1652 with his wife.  It was later renamed for John Jacob Astor, then the wealthiest man in the United States, in order to persuade him to invest in the area.  ASTORIA also boasts the oldest beer garden in New York City.

The two TAPAS given as examples in the clue are patatas bravas, spicy fried potatoes, and calamares, which is the Spanish calamari.

J'ADORE, a perfume by Dior, last came up on September 30, 2018.

St. ANN'S Bay, Jamaica, was detailed on May 12, 2018.

Lots of fun fill on this one, especially for a Monday.  I like how braid was incorporated into TOMB RAIDER.  Also, DR. RUTH, ROC-A-FELLA records, RAKED IN, and JENNA Maroney.

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 7, 2021

My time: 14:30, less than two minutes slower than the record!  I am on a roll this week!

Theme: "Toddler Talk."  Several well-known phrases have an /r/ sound replaced with /w/ and then clued as it reads.  For example, "domain for Jameson and Maker's Mark?" is WHISKEY BUSINESS.  My favorite is "what a stoner actor smoked during rehearsal?" — WEED BETWEEN THE LINES.  Although I'm also partial to "Puritan's goal in 17th century Salem?" — GET WITCH QUICK.

Fun theme!  It's somewhat simple but quite amusing.  Now, there's just A BIT of fill to go over:

Ed ASNER played slave ship pilot Captain Davies in "Roots."  He wore a dark chin beard.

Permethrin cream is a topical solution for scabies, which is caused by the common LOUSE.  It is sold under the brand name Elimite.

I just don't know anything about sports and don't care to.  Apparently the Rose Bowl, in Pasadena CA, is an NCAA GAME.  Okay then.

Tsar IVAN V was the older half-brother of Peter I, and co-reigned with him between 1682 and 1696.  Apparently, however, Ivan's reign was solely titular because he had serious physical and mental issues. 

I'm well aware that AD ASTRA means "to the stars," but I didn't know there was a 2019 science fiction film of that name.  It stars Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones and was very poorly reviewed. 

LEON Bridges is a young soul singer from Texas, best known for his 2015 hit "Coming Home."

Spanish dagger and Adam's needle are varieties of YUCCA.  Fun fact: Yuccan pollen is collected only by the yucca moth.

Robert Louis Stevenson supposedly said "WINE is bottled poetry," the old lush.  However, I couldn't find a source.

Of the two KLEES referenced in the puzzle, Fish Magic was in the blog on July 11, 2018, while Ad Parnassum is his 1932 pointillist masterwork that sort of looks like a house or mountain.  I've seen it many times but never knew the title.

I love that VANNA WHITE is in the fill, and I love how she's clued: "who holds the Guinness world record for Most Frequent Clapper."

ANNE Brontë wrote Agnes Grey, as noted on December 27, 2017.

The New York Giants were referred to as G-MEN on September 5, 2020. 

Quaker abolitionist and suffragist Lucretia MOTT was last in the blog on August 26, 2020.

"First Asian player to be ranked #1 in singles" is Naomi OSAKA, who's been in the puzzle a few times now.

Paul ANKA is a very common crossword answer.  He wrote the lyrics to "My Way," as noted on August 20, 2018.

ILIUM, the hip bone, has come up a few times before.

Clever clue: "Bank investment?" is LEVEE.  "One creating draft after draft?" is BEER BREWER.  "Slice of toast?" is HERE'S TO.  "They're found around Scots" is KILTS.  "Rock song?" is LULLABY.

In all, it was a smaller amount of clever, punny, or devious clues than typical for a Sunday this week. I did like some of the fill (THE F WORD, ON A HUNCH, HARD SELL), and the cute theme.

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 6, 2021

My time: 6:42, a new record!  Beating my old time by 45 seconds!  I was completely on this one's wavelength, from HERSTORIES to NERDCORE.

I've never heard of a "big jackpot" referred to as a MIL.  I know it's short for a million, like "I won three mil!" but that's not replacing the idea of a "big jackpot."  Possibly a poor clue?

I'm old.  I see "princess of Monaco," I think Grace.  But it's STEPHANIE, Grace's youngest child.  Currently 14th in the line of succession to the Monegasque throne, she has been a singer, swimwear designer and fashion model.  Maybe someone should make a "Crown" TV show about that royal family.

Never having been a Potterhead, I had no idea about HELGA Hufflepuff, "one of the co-founders of Hogwarts."

I can thank the excellent series "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" for keeping the BORSCHT BELT in my consciousness.  The Catskills episode was a high point. 

Hey Skinny!  We've all heard of Charles ATLAS, but we didn't know his birth name name was Angelo Siciliano.  His exercise technique was called Dynamic Tension.

The show "Inside the NBA" was in the blog on July 8, 2018.  It is on TNT.

Here's a new word: ENTERIC, meaning intestine-related.

The author of The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State in 1884 has got to be Freidrich ENGELS, right?  That's some title.  It's not as snappy as Das Kapital but it's got a certain gravitas.

The Mercedes-Benz cars A-Class and C-Class have been in the puzzle before, but today we have S-CLASS, a sedan.  It starts at 94,000 dollars.  

Sonnet ender SESTET was last in the blog on September 6, 2020.

Clever clues: "Nice pair of boxers?" is PECS.  "A real cinematic tour de force?" is STAR WARS.  "Share, as a plot?" is SPOIL.  "Government program?" is WEST WING.  "Many characters in Kill Bill" is ELS; that is, L's in the title.  "Big scoop" is SHOVEL.

I was very surprised after solving this one to realize I had beaten my old time.  It seems like there wasn't very much brand new material, and what was new-ish was easy to guess from the context, like ENGELS. 

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 5, 2021

My time: 11:43, three and a half minutes faster than average.

The fill?  Let's HAVE A GO at it.  IT'S ON!  

I had no idea what "'deuce and a quarter' automobile" referred to.  It's a nickname for the BUICK Electra, derived from its total length, 225 inches.  "Rollin' in my deuce deuce 5 / Convertible top down so I can see the honeys passin' me by." -- Prince, New Power Generation song "Deuce & a Quarter."

REPARATIONS is the subject of H.R. 40, "introduced in every Congress since 1989."  Someday we'll get it right!

I don't think I've heard of the RAZOR brands Bevel or Oui the People.  But it seems like they're good!  That Oui the People one sure is expensive.

PORT Louis is the capital of Mauritius.  Port Louis is home to the nation's main harbor, which is the only official port of entry and exit for sea vessels in Mauritius.  It's named after Louis XIV.

Mary LOU Williams was a jazz pianist, acclaimed by some as the greatest female pianist.  She got her start with Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy.  "Until the Real Thing Comes Along," with Williams' arrangement, became "the biggest song of 1936."

I know the magazine THE ROOT, but I didn't know it was co-founded by Henry Louis Gates Jr. 

"Observes one of the Five Pillars of Islam" is FASTS.  That is sawm, the fourth pillar.  It refers to fasting during Ramadan.

Keeping with the Islam theme, FATIMA is the youngest daughter of the Prophet Muhammad.  Fatimah is termed as the mother of Imams and is revered by both Sunni and Shia Muslims. 

The NATS (Washington Nationals) were the 2019 MLB champs.  They beat the Astros 4-3.  That's nice for them.

"One-named rapper who became co-host of CBS's 'The Talk'" is EVE, née Eve Jihan Jeffers Cooper.  She has been nominated twice for a Daytime Emmy for her work on "The Talk."  She's no longer with the show.

An OIL BARREL is equivalent to 42 gallons.  I guess that proves oil is the answer to the question about the meaning of life.  The amount was agreed upon in 1886.

I had forgotten about Marcus Garvey's helmet and its PLUMES!  He was a segregationist who thought black people should go back to Africa.

"Spelman figure, informally" baffled me, as I had completely forgotten about SPELMAN College's one and only appearance in the blog on December 23, 2017.  The figure is PROF.

Poet laureate RITA Dove was in the puzzle on August 14, 2020. 

Clever clues: "Pop up a lot, perhaps?" is NEW DAD.  "Pair of rings?" is TAG TEAM; I guess this means a pair who work in, and are thus "of," wrestling rings.  "A fine way to discourage foul language?" is SWEAR JAR.  "Underground rap?" is SECRET KNOCK."

Well, this was a great Friday puzzle!  It was a nice amount of new material and some challenging clues.  I liked FLOW STATE ("what you're in when you're in the zone").

Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 4, 2021

My time: 7:35, just a minute and fifteen seconds shy of my record!

Theme: It's a rebus, with color words in the rebus boxes.  While all of the answers with color words are songs, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the colors picked or their distribution in the grid.

I've heard of poker champ Phil IVEY, but couldn't recall his name without crossfill.  Actually I had a lot of trouble with the northeast corner in general. 

Part of the reason for that is I've never heard of Joe Diffie or his 1993 hit "JOHN DEERE [GREEN]."  However, having looked him up, I now recall that I heard his name when he became one of the first notable people to die of Covid complications.

For "fig. on some IRS forms" I put *SSN but it's EIN, or Employee Identification Number.

"Who AM I?" is a song sung by Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables."  In the song, Valjean decides to turn himself in to save the man who was mistaken for him by Javert. 

And now we come to "secret-indicating gestures," the major reason for my trouble in the northeast corner.  EYE WINKS.  Really?  EYE winks?  What other kind is there?  Mon DIEU, that's weak sauce.

Also, I've never heard of the song "[GREEN] LIGHT," whether the 2017 Lorde song (but it's good), the 2008 John Legend number (ugh), or the 1968 hit by the American Breed (I like that one).

ACAI was established as a South American palm on December 1, 2020.

"Some cameras, in brief" is SLRS, which has probably appeared the most times of any answer in this blog, but I can never seem to get it at first.

Likewise frequent answer political analyst ANA Navarro.

Clever clues: "Stock symbol?" is BRAND.  "Feet in a pound" is PAWS.

And that's this Thursday sorted!  I liked the musical theme, of course.  And there's some good fill here, too, like DIALS IN, ANIMISTS, and ONE IOTA.  I didn't care for EYE WINKS.

Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 3, 2012

My time: 5:13, a new record by four seconds!

Today's theme celebrates JOHN LEWIS, who represented GEORGIA'S FIFTH district (Atlanta) for 33 years, and advocated NON-VIOLENCE as a way of resisting.  And Alexandria OCASIO-Cortez is standing on his shoulders!  Very neat.

I like to think that "seat at a counter, maybe" (STOOL) is an oblique reference to the sit-ins of 1960 as well.  Especially followed by "took a load off" (SAT) — but maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Oscar ISAAC is a an actor best known for the title role in Inside Llewyn Davis and as Poe Dameron in Star Wars.

Lake BIWA is Japan's largest freshwater lake.  It is located entirely within Shiga Prefecture (west-central Honshu), northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto.  Lake Biwa is an ancient lake, over four million years old, and is estimated to be the 13th oldest lake in the world.

Now that the crossword mentions it, I realize I've never seen an NBA game end in a TIE, but I didn't realize that was built into the rules.  In the NBA, after the score is tied at the end of regulation, the teams play a five-minute overtime period.  If the score is still tied at the end of overtime, the teams play another overtime period.  The record of extra overtime periods is six.

Never heard of actress ANNA Deaveare Smith.  She was in The American President and The Human Stain.

FDR was the first sitting president (I hope that wasn't a tasteless pun) to ride in an airplane.  It was 1943, and he rode in the Dixie Clipper to meet Churchill in Casablanca.  He was 60 years old.

"Return of the Jedi dancer" is OOLA.  She's a slave of Jabba the Hutt, and she is eaten by his rancor, and of course a black actress has to play her, I guess?

This was a solid puzzle.  Nothing too flashy, but with some interesting fill like SAYS BOO, WE'VE MET, NARUTO, and BAD FATS.

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 2, 2021

My time: 4:30, just thirty seconds shy of my record.

Theme: TENNIS COURT surfaces are found at the starts of the three themed answers: GRASSHOPPER, CLAYMATION, and HARD KNOCKS.

Right off the bat is an answer that isn't all that common: HATTON Garden, "London district known for diamond trading."  It is in the Holborn district of the London Borough of Camden, close to the boundary with the City of London. 

For "bump fists" I foolishly put *DAB instead of DAP.  Curse these youthful fads and their weird made-up words!  For "ventilate thoroughly" I put *AERATE instead of AIR OUT.  Both of these cost me time.

Red Sox slugger Tony Armas has been in the puzzle before, but I don't recall seeing actress ANA de Armas.  She was in the excellent Knives Out and Blade Runner 2049.  Also apparently she is or was Ben Affleck's girlfriend?

Riddle-me-this, I know.  Riddle-me-not, maybe, okay.  But riddle-me-REE?  Never heard of it.  But it's at least 200 years old, so more fool me.

We've had early-1900s Montana congresswoman Jeanette Rankin in the puzzle, but not Jeanette LEE, a Korean-American champion billiards player nicknamed the Black Widow.

Martin Luther King said that RIOTS are "the language of the unheard."  Sometimes.  Sometimes they're the language of entitled whiners who can't see past their own privilege and are too sensitive to learn from mistakes. 

More names: anchor ANDREA Mitchell is an Emmy-winning NBC News commentator.

I vaguely remember the Fox dramedy "ROC," starring Charles S. Dutton.  The show began life as a traditional television sitcom, chronicling the ups and downs of Baltimore garbage collector Charles "Roc" Emerson (Charles S. Dutton), a tightwad who constantly brought home items thrown away by residents on his route.  As it progressed, the series adopted a more dramatic tone, with several installments featuring social commentaries on gang activities, violence among youths, the consequences of drug use on childbirth and the plight of African-Americans in the United States.  It was also the first prime time scripted American series since the late 1950s to broadcast each episode of an entire season, its second, live.

I've heard of Deion Sanders, but didn't know his nickname, Neon Deion.  Because he was flashy?  He won two Super Bowl titles and made one World Series appearance in 1992, making him the only athlete to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series. 

Here's a totally new word for me: STANNIC, meaning of tin, especially with a valence of four.

The Wildcats have come up so many times.  I just can't get it through my thick skull that they are the mascot for Kansas.  K STATE was even an answer on December 7, 2017.

Novelist RONA Jaffe, she of the anti-D&D book and pandemic name, has appeared a few times.

Whew! Even though I solved this one way under average time, I still think it was somewhat hard for a Tuesday.  There was a great deal of new stuff for the second-easiest crossword of the week!  But I do enjoy learning new things, so that's not necessarily a complaint.  The theme was a fun one.

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 1, 2021

My time: 4:25, about a minute faster than average.

Theme: the humble bee, exemplified by the HIVE / MIND.  Three long Across answers end in bee words: drone, queen, and worker.  (Having the latter in the grid as its sadly undervalued human equivalent, ESSENTIAL WORKER is a little too on the nose, don't you think?)

For "journey" I put *TREK instead of TRIP, and that slowed me down a little.

I didn't know Cleveland is on the southern shore of Lake ERIE.

I really don't like clues such as "fifth most common family name in China" (CHEN).  Are we really supposed to know that?  It is interesting?  If the answer to both of those questions is no, then the clue is not a very good one.  Why not ask about a famous CHEN, such as the Han dynasty Empress?

The Black Eyed Peas is one of the worst bands in the world and their songs are certainly among the very stupidest.  They have a 2010 hit called "IMMA Be."  The lyrics include the title repeated 105 times.  They are multimillionaires. 

I like the abstruse word OCULI ("circular windows") in the grid.

This was a solid Monday!  Nice cohesive theme with a capper and some fun fill, including PEER GROUP, QUAID, and PRISM.  On the other hand, two answers include the indefinite article, A SIGN and A FUSS (and they both are clued with blanks, ugh).