Tuesday September 25th 2018, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 10:25
Average Tuesday: 13:49
Best Tuesday: 6:10

Well, I was on pace for a record time for Tuesday on this puzzle as I was absolutely flying through, dropping AMY POEHLER, MANSPREADS, and SLEEP APNEA into place for the long downs without any need for crosses. I've learned not to bother even reading referential clues on my first pass through a puzzle and this saved me quite a bit of time not trying to parse clues like "With 12-Down, places where a thoughtless person 30-Down." Huh? There were a fair amount of those and, of course, they all fit into the manspreading theme in the end, but as clues they are deeply annoying. To fill out the theme, we have the SUBWAY TRAIN locale and then the word "man" in circles and spread throughout the puzzle.

I was just working on getting my e-visa for my trip to Muscat, so OMANI was beyond a gimme for me. I'm always thrilled to see CALVIN, "Comics boy who says 'Reality continues to ruin my life,'" who as always succinctly states my entire being.

So, what slowed me down? Apparently, as usual, it was huge gaps in my knowledge! I don't know MAXWELL ANDERSON or his Pulitzer-winning play "Both Your Houses." But, now that I've looked him up, I am familiar with the wonderfully disturbing film "The Bad Seed."
In addition to that, I didn't know Mount ELBERT as the "highest peak in the Rockies," ROE DEER as "Eurasian animals with antlers" (although I instinctively guessed the R somehow), or TARSALS as "foot bones." I also wrote VERTicES instead of VERTEXES initially. So, that corner was a mess and I spent about 4 minutes messing with it before finally getting it right. In other words, I learned a lot of probably basic trivia today. I'll try to remember it. 

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