Been a while since we had our last "turning" puzzle. A few years ago, Will Shortz put out a moratorium on them since they had become so pervasive. I'm thankful for the break — I used to groan at the first turning themer, but I enjoyed the throwback today, even though I recalled another RIGHT ON RED puzzle.
I'm such an annoying engineer. As with previous "turn right" puzzles, I can't get past the physicist's perspective that PUREBRED heads down, and turning right would mean going west, not east. I understand the counterargument that if you asked someone to point right, or to point east, they would point in the same direction.
(But that's not right. Neither is it correct. Said this stubborn engineer.)
PUREBRED DOGS / RED DOGS was the first themer I uncovered, and it confused me. RED DOGS couldn't be beer, could it? No, it had to be something related to Spuds MacKenzie.
(THAT'S ODD is right. Yes, right would be turning west!)
I appreciated the other finds much more, ALTERED STATE / RED STATE, CURED MEAT / RED MEAT and CHECKERED FLAG / RED FLAG all perfect examples. Regular readers would be shocked if I didn't run a quick query to see what other options were out there. I liked:
- REDLINES BLURREDLINES
- REDRUM HOTBUTTEREDRUM
- REDTAGS EXPIREDTAGS
Turning puzzles tend to need a lot of long bonuses (because the themers are short), and Ed did well in that regard. STAGE ACTOR and HONEST ABE is a wonderful way to start. DON'T PANIC, GOES UNDER, even SCARAB and SPLOTCH are fun.
Not funned was DUNNED. It is a word in the dictionary. A single entry gets a pass, though, given how much other great material there was.
And a fantastic clue (once Jim Horne explained it to me): [Refuse to pick up the bill?] — a legal bill that gets a VETO, not a restaurant bill.
Nice to experience a turning puzzle occasionally, and the fact that each across themer was a valid entry helped elevate this one from the pack.