Sunday September 2nd 2018, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 30:56
Average Sunday: 50:59
Best Sunday: 21:55

I'm not sure Sunday crossword solves get a more pleasant backdrop than staring out into the fog from a manor house in Mussoorie while sipping coffee.
Not only that, but this crossword seemed so perfectly within my wheelhouse, especially the theme entries. The title/theme, which I so often forget to check, was "Going Head to Head" with themes clued as various showdowns. The answers are head to head in that the first showdown participant is spelled backwards, yielding the following:

SUESEHTMINOTAUR: "Showdown in Greek Mythology" (Theseus and the Minotaur)
OIRAMBOWSER: "Showdown in classic video games" (Mario and Bowser)
NOTLIMAHBURR: "Showdown in American history" (Hamilton and Burr)
EKULDARTHVADER: "Showdown in cinema" (Luke and Darth Vader)
YPOONSREDBARON: "Showdown in the funnies" (Snoopy and Red Baron)
DIVADGOLIATH: "Showdown in the Bible" (David and Goliath)
NAMTABJOKER: "Showdown in comic books" (Batman and the Joker)
ETOXIUQWINDMILL: Showdown in literature" (Quixote and the Windmill)

If you know me at all, you know that I love almost all of these. I spent my elementary school years obsessively reading Greek Mythology and playing Nintendo before graduating to comics books in middle school. I also probably played the old Red Baron computer game more than I read Peanuts, but Snoopy was around too. Like everyone else, I've been obsessed with Hamilton and was glad to see Burr's rank LT. COL (according to the musical, not fact checking) hiding out a couple rows below too. I'm now singing "Story of Tonight (Reprise)," so thanks for that. And I loved the cuteness of ending with the Quixote and his windmills. And look, JEDI is an answer too. It's always nice to have some extra propping up of the theme. While most of the theme answers are perfectly up my alley, they're all well-known enough to not give the non-mythology non-comic nerds any trouble, I'd think.

I wasn't crazy about the UNBEND and UNIDEAL crossing, since both of those words, while probably real, just sound off to me. COOKIE CUTTER is a nice answer, but the"Undistinguished, as many a subdivision house" is some cluttered cluing in my mind.

On the other hand, I find something heartening about cluing PAWNS as "potential queens."

It's still raining in Mussoorie, so I think it'll be another quiet day in the manor. No complaints. 

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