Saturday January 26th 2019, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 27:27
Saturday Average: 37:27
Best Saturday 10:34

First of all, I loved the shape this puzzle, even if I got stuck for a while after completing the South since the two halves barely connected. But I was happy to understand why "#1 song at the end of October in 1962" would have to be the MONSTER MASH, which is a perfectly sensible song no matter what they say on Punch Up the Jam. I also finally remembered crossword-standard TAPIR, which was fairly critical for getting through this puzzle.

I've never had ALABAMA SLAMMERS before and initially imagined that ALABAMA Sunrises might be a thing, but sadly it's not so.

Hilariously, my first thought for "Classic video game hero's catchphrase" was IT'S A ME, MARIO! but I assumed that was nonsense. Lucky me!

The turning point for me was realizing that I'd misspelled Giovanni RIBISI (with an A instead of the first I). I've never seen Avatar before, but I also couldn't think of any other Giovannis, so there you are.

19th century Czech composer Bedřich SMETANA was a tough one. Also, smetana is Russian for sour cream and I'd be a little surprised if it was different in Czech. 

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