Something's Brewing...

It’s thunderstorms, by the look of it! With rain and thunderstorms in the forecast, I can only hope I get to experience it with the three “S” senses - sights (lightning), sounds (thunder), and smells (rain). I’d prefer to leave the “T” senses of taste and touch out, but then again, sometimes a walk in the rain hits the spot (though the taste of rain water never does). The taste of the rainbow, on the other hand…

This week’s puzzle has a different kind of brewing going on, but to know which one, you’re going to have to give it a solve ;)

Discussion (and spoilers!) below the break.

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Something's Brewing... by Brandon Cathcart

Discussion

Lots of fun references for me today - Bart Simpson, a new way to clue the classic crossword word OREO, and one of my favourite movies, Arrival. I can’t explain what itch it scratches, but it does it for me.

And of course, pop icon Chappell Roan makes it into today’s crossword with “Red Wine Supernova?” Fun, playful, an absolute banger - it’s everything we here at YEGwords Industries™ strive to be.

Today’s Theme

Today’s you’ll see three starred clues, and a “revealer” that references them. Each of the starred clues has circled squares, which can be scary, but today they really aren’t.

The revealer, ["I'm about to do something stupid" ... and what I asked the answers of the starred clues to do!] helps us figure out what the circles are for. A popular phrase that might mean "I'm about to do something stupid" is HOLD MY BEER, which is what each of the answers to the starred clues are doing - holding a type of beer!

[* Barely beyond the great indoors] is JU(ST OUT)SIDE

[* Vikings, at times] are PIL(LAGER)S

and [* Sci-fi modes of transportation] are TELE(PORTER)S

Behind the Clues

11A. I was alive during the great disc wars of 2006-2008, and let me tell you, it was bloody. [___-ray Disc (HD DVD defeater)] is BLU-ray, and though I’m slightly ashamed to say I was initially on team HD DVD, I’ve since come to terms with the Blu-ray format. I remember watching “300” on Blu-ray on an HD TV and being able to see people’s pores, and that was not enjoyable. At least we’ve moved the needle back a bit.

36A. [Month home to National Apple Day and National Caramel Apple Day] on first read might have you thinking “That could be any month!” But the key detail here is “National Caramel Apple Day,” which if you’re going to have that on any month, should be on the candy-est month, OCTOBER. Mediumly-fun fact: an earlier draft of this puzzle had OKTOBER, but the K had to be changed to make the downs a bit easier.

41A. I think it’s worth explaining [Explosive that's one "M" away from Donatello, Raphael, and gang] since my faithful test solver didn’t understand it on first pass. The explosive we’re looking for is TNT, which is one “M” away from TMNT, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who are all named after Italian Renaissance painters.

18D. [One bookend of a moustache] is a highly relatable clue for me, as someone with a moustache. My moustache, like all others, is primarily defined by being located between my nose and my upper LIP.

23D. [Reference date and time (Thursday, 1 January 1970 00:00:00 UTC for computing)] is not the easiest clue for software programmers, let alone laypeople. The answer is EPOCH, and though it’s used all the time in software, rarely do we call it by its name. Anyway, the more you know, I guess.

38D. As mentioned above, I loved “Arrival,” so it was a joy to reference it today. [Creature communicated with in "Arrival" (2016), for short] is an alien, or ET. Mild spoiler alert. Ah, too late. Well, it’s still worth watching, so add it to the list!

I hope you enjoyed this puzzle!

Until next week,

Brandon

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