Saturday September 8th 2018, NY Times Crossword

Time: 39:19

Average Saturday: 40:50

Best Saturday: 20:09

I think I've discovered the cure for jet lag and it's playing five games of ultimate from 9am to 4pm in the wind and rain. It may not always be possible, but I certainly feel like it got the job done. 

Of course, all this ultimate on a Saturday has seriously delayed my post for the day. More's the pity, because today's crossword comes from the mind of Andrew Ries, my favorite crossword constructor! If you'd told me a year ago that I'd have a favorite crossword constructor, I would have laughed at you. But Andrew Ries really does stand out, especially if you check out his bi-weekly Aries Freestyles. Ries tends to avoid proper nouns out of principle and instead focuses on wordplay, which means that although his crosswords are brutally difficult, you can generally make your way through them with time if you're able to screw up your mind into his way of thinking. And you usually won't have to worry about just not knowing that particular proper noun.

That said, this one had some phrases with which I was totally unfamiliar slowing me down. I did not know that a practice team for the NFL was called a TAXI SQUAD. Got SQUAD pretty, early and eventually filled in the rest. Likewise, I'd never heard of a TANGRAM, but now I'm pretty interested in these Chinese puzzles that have been described as 'the earliest psychological test in the world.' Neat! DUBOSE Heyward seems like a tough proper noun and I've never heard of the play Porgy. 

"Ones sharing some shots" is a fantastic clue for SNAPCHAT FRIENDS, but it eluded me right up until the end. 

Almost everything else just took some hacking away. CARROT JUICE fell pretty early, so I was able to work my way out from the middle gradually.