Friday March 1st 2019, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 47:17
Friday Average: 27:33
Best Friday: 10:21

Maybe my Bangkok brain just isn't cutting it for crosswords these days, as that's two serious scares in a row. This Friday themeless had me thoroughly stumped in the north for what seemed like hours. I fairly cruised through the middle and south with gimmes like ARTEMIS ("Twin sister of Apollo") and SITS IDLE ("Does nothing") and didn't even struggle too much with weirdness like DISCS ("Most cookies, essentially") and SLOVENS ("Pigs), which is just a fantastic word. Of course, CARA MIA was tricky for me because darn it I don't speak Spanish, but now I know that Jay & The Americans have a song by that title and I'm listening to that now.

But FOX CUB for "Kit" leading to XI JINPING for "The world's most powerful person, per a 2018 Forbes list" just took me forever. ODOR EATER from "Sole mate?" makes a certain degree of sense, but lacks that sense of inevitability that the best ? clues have. The critical clue in the NE was "Western outfits" that I just couldn't grasp until someone said "What other meanings does outfit have?" and I immediately recognized POSSES and the corner fell from there. It was an exciting moment, if you're into that type of thing.

I loved "Illegal sweeteners" for BRIBES. Sometimes I miss the simplicity of low level corruption, because sometimes you just want to pay the "fine" to "expedite" something and you're not that interested in going through a lengthy application process or what have you. Surely an exchange of $20 improves life for all involved, no?

Tonight I fly to Ho Chi Minh City, where I will spend an unprecedented four consecutive nights. That's not really a thing that happens to me. 

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