Wednesday October 3rd 2018, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 8:51
Average Wednesday: 17:39
Best Wednesday: 7:24

Maybe this has all been coincidental, but I've think that I've fairly consistently been putting in relatively strong crossword performances while over-tired and hungover. Since I had only one school visit today (and about 8 hours of driving through Pakistan), I figured last night would be a good night to try the local whiskey that is available only through room service and only for non-Muslim foreigners. EXPAT only, I suppose. AUSTERE, no? Anyway, even though it's call Vat No.1, it is far from A-ONE in quality.

I can't recall a crossword for a while that I've simply marched across like this one. I more or less filled this in starting in the NW and proceeding in order, checking the down answers when the acrosses didn't immediately come to mind. Despite my decent familiarity with Greek Mythology, I'd forgotten that CASSIOPEIA was a queen of ETHIOPIA and that she boasted that she was more beautiful than THE NEREIDS, leading to her banishment to the sky by POSEIDON. I love this theme just because it reminded me of the story. I also noticed as I solved that there were an awful lot of X's and it turns out that they are in the shape of the constellation, so that's fun too. I'm not going to check that.

For now, let's just call this a late entry and an early night. Good night from Lahore!

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