Wednesday January 2nd 2019, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 18:11
Wednesday Average: 17:15
Best Wednesday: 7:09

I did just manage to EKE this one out with more trouble than I usually anticipate from a Wednesday. However, I quite enjoyed the Fork theme and it was actually fairly critical in helping me figure out a few corners in which I couldn’t find purchase for a while. As you can see, each of the theme clues is a type of “fork” in that after the first several letters, grey squares fork off to form an alternate answer. So you have SHARK/SHAd for “Fish fork” and MARGARITA/MARtini for “Cocktail fork.” It’s fun stuff and, like I said, it was helpful when I got stuck.

I did not know that former Vice President Walter MONDALE later became ambassador to Japan. In fact, I mostly just know him through the Simpsons referencing “Where’s the beef?” In the words of Homer, “No wonder he won Minnesota.”

I’m glad to see BEDE, “The Father of English History,” making another appearance. Hopefully second time is the charm for me remembering him.

Perhaps because of yesterday’s theme, I’m wondering if this puzzle at one point was meant to be a EEE puzzle. I was getting nervous about all those consecutive E’s in BEE EATERS, “relatives of kingfishers.”

Now it’s time to don my BERET and return the streets of Lisbon. TATA!

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