Friday November 23rd 2018, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 14:46
Friday Average: 28:04
Best Friday: 10:21

I emerged from a turkey coma this morning and decided to just tackle this Friday crossword immediately. Once again, half asleep brain comes through with one of my better Friday performances. I was glad to be able to plop in ANIMANIACS,  but mostly just because it’s one of my all-time favorite cartoons. It took me a moment to figure out what needed to be added to BBC for “Airer of ‘Orphan Black’ and ‘Almost Royal,’” but of course it’s BBC AMERICA.

I know my dad would always respond to the question “Who’s the best tennis player of all time?” without hesitation with Rod LAVER “Tennis’s only two-time Grand Slam winner.” I should ask if he thinks Federer has taken over that title or if it’s at least a discussion now.

SPURS and SABER are nice mini stack. And now that I know about it, I’d like to visit KEW Gardens to see the most diverse botanical and mycological collection in the world. That must be SQUILLIONS (never heard that one) of mushrooms!

I’m really confused now that I’ve looked up the difference between a MERL and a blackbird. According to one site I found, a merl is a blackbird and a blackbird is a thrush? Any ornithologists want to comment?

It’s a pretty romantic triple stack in the NE there with FALL IN LOVE, OL MAN RIVER, and STAR GAZERS, offset only a bit by the decidedly unromantic UHAUL leading into that stack.

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