Monday November 19th 2018, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 8:54
Monday Average: 8:37
Best Monday: 4:10

I suppose today's theme is light wordplay cluing films. I can't say it really gave us much to GNAW on but something closer to that "huh, FINE" type feeling. The first themer, "'Green' 1986 film" for THE COLOR OF MONEY, is probably the strongest because you could say that yes, green is arguably the color of money. I put off watching that particular sequel to my actual favorite film, The Hustler, because I'd heard how disappointing it was. Once I'd lowered the bar enough, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it's not so much terrible as just not all that good. I suppose you can equally argue that "'Fluid' 2017 film" for THE SHAPE OF WATER (which I need to re-watch not on a plane) works about equally well in that respect, but "'Noted' 1965" film THE SOUND OF MUSIC breaks the theme in my mind. So, we're theme-light,  but I don't mind seeing any of these films in the grid.

I got a bit stuck because I kept trying to make a word (twod?) out of TWO-D and DETER didn't quite match up with "Frighten off" in my head. The other cross that killed me, of course, was BOFFO (which I guess is theater-speak for a success) with German composer Carl ORFF. I had nothing there and was down to simply running the alphabet until it clicked. But so it goes.

It's 9:15am and this puzzle already has me ready for a GYRO and an ALE. 

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