New York Times, Tuesday, February 28, 2017

The first version of this puzzle contained the theme answers RADICALLEFT, NOTNEGOTIABLE and HECTORBERLIOZ. Will suggested replacing BRO with a longer synonym, so I decided on ILEDUDIABLE after searches for *PAHC* and *EKOLB* fell short. If a suitable 12-letter answer containing EDUD had turned up, NETNEGATIVE might have been OFTNEGLECTED. (That said, there may well be another puzzle theme in Canada's FUDDLEDUDDLE incident.)

STAND UP GUYS getting their due, GENT, DUDE, and FELLA "standing up" within theme phrases. Interesting phrases — GENT inside NET NEGATIVE was fun, as well as FELLA within RADICAL LEFT (although the latter is a mite too charged for my taste).

ILE DU DIABLE … what the devil?! Jacob tends to use a lot of high culture terms in his puzzles, which I generally like and admire. This one went over my head, though. Devil's Island, yes. But even after five years of high school French, remembering that it should be DU and not DE was rough, not to mention piecing together DIABLE (no surprise that I didn't do well in AP French). I like the name after studying it for a while, but it threw me for a loop during my solve.

I don't like being thrown during a Tuesday solve. But it's good for me every once in a while.

I did like BORGIAS; not hard to dig out of memory. Crazy how powerful the House of Borgia was during the Renaissance. That's the kind of interesting class-up-the-joint entry I've come to expect and like from Jacob.

A couple of small blips in the fill, unexpected out of one of Jacob's puzzles, especially since there are only four total themers. I wouldn't have minded IN BAD, TKT, OLEO, the oddball LAIN, B AND B (rarely seen in non-ampersand form outside crosswords), CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) if there had been five themers. But with four, I expect a smoother result, especially if there's not a lot of bonus longer fill. (Given that Jacob has won a ton of my POWs, the bar is very high for him.)

On that note, I would have liked a fifth themer — hiding BRO would have been fine with me. It a sufficient amount of theme with just three guys hidden, but I think it would have been more satisfying to have a fourth. (Not surprisingly, I really like barbershop quartets.)

Great clue in [Southernmost U.S. state]. I embarrassingly plunked in FLORID and then corrected it to GEORGI before completely confusing myself. (Which is worse, my geography or my French? Both.) I'm committing that neat trivia to memory.

Update: Reader Jordan Cahn caught an error in my previous remarks in this section. HAWAII is, yes, the southernmost state. Alaska is the northernmost. Alaska also stretches out over the 180th Meridian, making it the westernmost and the easternmost state as well. Thanks, Jordan!