Friday October 26th 2018, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 22:48
Friday Average: 28:30
Best Friday: 10:21

OK, so I think mWAHAHA is more of a "Maniacal laugh" than BWAHAHA, but maybe that's just me. I'm not sure what kind of evil BIAS that is, but I'm not apologizing for it. After yesterday's brutal puzzle, I was telling myself NO PRESSURE, just try to redeem yourself a bit. I'm happy with how I was able to hack my way through this one and was relieved when I immediately got TABLE SCRAP at 1 across for "It might go to the dogs" even though I've never heard that phrase in the singular. 

Now I'm only hearing "SANTA ANA Winds" from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend for the rest of the day, but I love a good Frankie Valli impression any day.  

I had to talk myself out of qUito for "South American capital" when I had the U from PUCE, but came up with SUCRE fairly quickly. I'm a big fan of the I'VE CHANGED, NO PRESSURE, and SWEET TALKS stack, even if that was the last section of the grid to fall for me. I suppose I'm always happy when I finish a Friday cleanly. 

The only questionable clue I found was "I'm ______," which seemed like it could have been absolutely anything and the answer SUING didn't endear itself to me. Sure, that's something that could be said, but no more than any other verb, right? 

In terms of what I learned, if I ever knew that Fort HAYS was an important frontier post during the American Indian Wars of the late 19th century, I certainly forgot it long ago. 

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