Friday February 15th 2019, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 31:05
Friday Average: 27:28
Best Friday: 10:21

I did finally get around to watching CRAZY RICH ASIANS, on a plane of course, but I was still slow to fill in that central answer, even if  I really should have known that someone would be squeezing it into a puzzle before long. I did not SLEEP EASY last night or barely at all, honestly, but I think I would have struggled with today regardless. Maybe if I was more awake, I would have remembered that METAL is a music genre when I had the last three letters. That's a little embarrassing.

I don't think I ever knew how to spell Peabody Prize winner GWEN IFILL's name before, so that corner was the killer for me. Again, I was flummoxed by "Old British sports cars," which had the critical first letters for those medium acrosses. MGS. OK. MELODIZES is an odd word and I didn't feel great about the semi-redundancy of SALSA DIP. MELEE is a pretty loose synonym for imbroglio, but I suppose it's close enough and both are objectively fun words to throw around, so I'll allow it.

Wow, I guess BROTOX is really a thing. I am terrified.

Anyhow, I'm INSANELY tired and probably in need of some ADVIL but the work goes on, so I'll OWN IT as I prepare for this Lahore Fair.  

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