Saturday November 10th 2018, NY Times Crossword

Time: 32:24

Saturday Average: 38:53

Best Saturday:10:34

As usual, I was TIMIDgoing into a Saturday puzzle following a late night of wandering a foreign city and having a HOTDATEwith a morning AIRLINER. The longer across answers actually fell easily with STRIPPERS(“Pole stars”) and YOGAPANTS(“Flexible attire”) feeling like some simple cleverness in the NW and OPERETTAS(“‘The Mikado’ and ‘The Merry Widow’”) and ZAPATISTA(“Rebel fighter during the Mexican Revolution” being surprisingly straightforward. For “Mutant villain of Marvel Comics,” I had to fight my instincts to run through every mutant villain I knew and wishing it would be Mesmero, but of course it’s the most obvious with MAGNETO. Sometimes clues get more difficult when you know too much. COSPLAY, of course, fits right in here. 

The west, however, was a complete disaster for me. I managed to enter in OCTILEfor “One-eighth of a data set” and FLUVIRUSfor “Target of some shots” but never felt confident in them, especially with how long it took me to recall Patsy CLINEfor “‘I fall to pieces’” singer. Somewhere from the recesses of my brain I managed to drag out OFFALfor “Butcher’s scraps.” I suppose I’ve seen it in crosses before and I think it means ‘entrails’ or something. Likewise, maybe I once knew that a TOQUEis the chef’s hat or, as it’s clued, “Fancy restaurant topping.” LEESas a synonym for the wine dregs or the “Bottom of the barrel” killed me too. And, of course, it all led up to the long down answer of TURNERESQUE, referring to 19th Century British Romantic painter J.M.W. Turner. That’s a lot of random combined together leading to something that’s so far out of my wheelhouse that I spent over half my overall time just playing around in that region. I was a little shocked when I finally got the confirmation in the end.

There’s something satisfying about reaching my 100th blog entry today as I return home from a 45-day work trip. I can’t wait to sip some CIDERand scream I’M ALIVE!