Thursday January 24th 2019, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 11:01
Thursday Average: 25:35
Best Thursday: 10:18

Despite a fairly slow start while I tried to figure out what kind of Thursday trickiness was happening, I ended up crushing this puzzle in near record time. Considering the time that rebus squares inevitably add, I'd feel comfortable calling this my strongest Thursday performance. I loved the GOO GOO EYES theme, in which double O's represent those eyes ten times in the puzzle. Fortunately, the placement was fairly standard. Also, is this a stealth Goo Goo Dolls themed puzzle if you look at the last and first theme entries? I think so!

My initial thoughts about the theme involved the "Work whose title character is buried alive" as I tried to figure out how on earth The Cask of Amontillado would fit in four spaces. Also, it's Fortunato who gets buried in that story (Spoiler alert?). I had no idea that Verdi's opera AIDA involves getting buried alive as well.

TOO RICH FOR MY BLOOD is an outstanding central answer and phrase that I've always loved for its sheer weirdness. I spent the only poker game I've played recently repeating it to myself as I folded hand after hand and somehow managed to stick around for second place as everyone else imploded around me.

For me, MOUSSAKA will be always be a Bulgarian dish and not a "Popular Greek dish." You can't convince me otherwise.  

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