Monday November 12th 2018, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 9:11
Monday Average: 8:37
Best Monday: 4:10

I'm back to work in Indiana but fortunately am starting out with working from home, which goes down easy like a Monday crossword. Actually, as you can see by my time, this one came out a little tricky for a Monday. I think I struggled to really get in a groove with those narrow corridors connecting the sections of the puzzle. There's a nice table-setting theme here with STICK A FORK IN IT, GAG ME WITH A SPOON ("Expression of disgust in Valley Girl-speak;" I'll take your word for it), GO UNDER THE KNIFE, and COME TO THE TABLE. I'm also fond of the medium length acrosses with KEELS OVER and PUT ON AIRS, both great phrases.

I didn't know that CANTS is another word for "Leans" or inclines and since it crossed Bandleader ARTIE Shaw, with whom I'm not really familiar, I got stuck for a while. I was also slowed down by a typo, writing LoGO instead of LAGO for "Italian body of water." But, I liked seeing sports legends ALI and PELE right next to each other.

I'm looking back on the puzzle to see if I have anything more to say about it and stumbled upon "Not worth a ______" for SOU. I have no idea what this is but apparently it means a small amount of money and this may be a phrase that people say. WHO KNEW? Definitely not me. 

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