Thursday January 10th 2019, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 16:31
Thursday Average: 25:55
Best Thursday: 10:18

Is a POLO really a "Spiffy top?" I suppose if you're using the word "spiffy," maybe it would be. I remain WARY.

If you took the time to reread the revealer clue, TORAH, which is meant to be read as "Tor! Ah!" I suppose, you might have just turned that "ah" into more of an "aaaargggghhhh." Essentially, you're adding the letters T-O-R to well known phrases in order to fit the wacky clues.

  • "Kidnapper who gets arrested?" CAPTOR IN HAND, from the phrase "Cap in hand." 
  • "Win a one-on-one game against a Toronto hoops player?" BEAT THE RAPTOR. Nothing tortured about that clue.
  • "'I don't want this house after all?'" KEEP IT, REALTOR. OK, this is weirdly my favorite of the four.
  • "Synagogue singer with hokey humor?" CANTOR OF CORN. I might like this one more if I understood the phrase "Can of corn." I've heard baseball announcers use it regarding routine flyballs and always thought it was crazy nonsense. From Wikipedia, "The phrase is said to have originated in the nineteenth-century and relates to an old-time grocer's method of getting canned goods down from a high shelf." Now I love it.
Isn't there a bar in Berkeley called "The Plough and the Stars?" Anyway, that would be a Sean O'CASEY joint. 

Remember how I was going to remember LARIAT as a synonym for a lasso? Nope. 

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