Saturday September 22nd 2018, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 27:05
Average Saturday: 40:16
Best Saturday: 20:09

I get tremendous comfort along with a tiny thrill when I can enter a grid-spanning answer with certainty without a single cross. I have fond memories of watching the first episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE in James Welsch's room with a group of fellow college sophomores. As the protagonist entered each empty setting, several of us would simultaneously utter "hey, where is everybody?" Also deeply worth watching is Rod Serling's pitch for the show that reassures potential sponsors that viewers will buy their products.

Since I don't know the names of dances, I was worried that I'd just never get the "Dance in which 'you bring your knees in tight," but once that W fell into place, so did THE TIME WARP. I was also really satisfied when HERCULEAN EFFORT became clear, especially because those short downs like PARSER and PEE DEE weren't ever going to come to me on their own. As you can see, there are some really fun long answers in this puzzle, which I suppose are meant to  overcome the ick factor of having CHARLIE ROSE at the center. At least he is clued in the context of the #MeToo movement.

I'm very glad I know who KARA Zor-El is, because I never would have gotten SACK DRESS on my own.

If crosswords keep going like this, I'm going to be considerably more familiar with apertifs in a year or so. KIR is apparently a popular French cocktail made with crème de cassis and white wine. I'll try one.

The last part of the puzzle to fall was AA MEETINGS, which I just had an impossible time seeing because my brain would not accept the double A. But the cluing was perfectly fair and I'm the only one to blame for struggling there. Overall, the puzzle was a perfect start to my Saturday to go with my hash browns and coffee. 

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