Friday August 24 2018, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 45:50
Average Friday: 29:08
Best Friday: 10:21

This one was a nightmare for me. Generally speaking, I enjoy the triple stacks at the top and bottom of a tricky Friday puzzle, but the fill on this one drew a lot of blanks for me, which meant that I struggled to get traction. However, by far the worst for me was that little bit in the west, where Correo AEREO (I guess it’s a Seattle band that plays traditional Latin Music?) and PACA (a South American rodent; I didn’t know "Agouti" either). SAPOR eventually got me there as a word that I could vaguely recall as something to do with taste. Yikes. Finally, I was scanning the puzzle for that last mistake for about 10 minutes because I felt fine about REFRIGERATedCAR and, nope, I don’t know Grammy winner Chris REA either and eLMSTEAD sounds about as plausible as OLMSTEAD (sorry, Emily, if you read this). I also had “hunGrY eyes” for a long time before ending on GOOGLY eyes, which I enjoy just as much.  

And then there are the other long answers. The south fell fairly easily with CARLOS THE JACKAL hilariously sitting on top of ALL AMERICAN HERO. The north, however, with the clunky ACE UP ONE’S SLEEVE and then CHARLOTTE AMALIE, which, I’m embarrassed to say, I’ve never heard of. Apparently, the United States Virgin Islands fell through the cracks when I was learning state capitals and world capitals. I think I’ll remember it now. And the pictures certainly make me want to go there. 

“Here” as a clue for ON EARTH seems awfully presumptuous.  

I wasn't getting MARG Helgenberger of CSI fame without every single cross. But hey, I guess I saw her in Bad Boys and Species back in the 90s too. 

I’ve seen R.U.R. enough times in crosswords and I know that it’s where the word “robot” comes from, so I should probably just read it at this point. Or does it get performed anywhere? 

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