It's all Oscar all the time in puzzledom it seems. Today's Feb. 24 nomination (answers) is from Nancy Nicholson Joline. The trick du jour makes me wonder how she ever came up with the idea. Some theme answers are better than others but they all have that property you want in a theme — it's not at all obvious at first and then when it finally clicks everything falls into place. Someone can explain, I'm sure, why "Forensic experts" are DEBATERS.
Nancy has a middle name which is unusual in the byline. She also has a first name which used to be unheard of. Before her Sunday puzzle almost exactly eleven years ago constructors only had first initials, at least in the Across Lite files. I assume the same was true in print. Will had a first name but, for example, the puzzle the day before was by A. J. Santora.
Other bloggers will give the low down on today's effort but Ms. Joline gives me an excuse to reminisce about one of her puzzles I particularly remember. Who Said It? back in 2005 asked us to guess who uttered some wonderful quotes. Here are a few I particularly recall. "I guess it just proves that in America anyone can be president" was by Gerald Ford. My favorite was "Everything you see I owe to spaghetti." Who said it? Sophia Loren. There was also a special quote for crossword solvers: "I respect a man who knows how to spell a word more than one way." The speaker? Mark Twain.