Sunday March 3rd 2019, NY Times Crossword

Time: 43:45

Sunday Average: 47:58

Best Sunday: 21:55

I suspect that James Welsch was all over this “D.J.’s Spinnin’” puzzle, in which common phrases have a D replaced with a J to fit the wacky clues. I enjoyed the silliness of the theme but also got bogged down in a few places, especially since I’ve only ever heard of SNOODS in the context of that addictive game from the 90s, not as a scarf. I also didn’t know writer NGAIO Marsh, one of the “Queens of Crime.” As for the theme, there’s a lot of fun happening.

• “Vacuum cleaner blockage?:” HOOVER JAM.
• “Sign at a restricted area of the Playboy Mansion?:” JUST BUNNIES. Smart bunnies, Hef. 
• “Driving through some off-road terrain, say?:” ROLLING IN THE JEEP. Was this a phrase before Adele? 
• “San Francisco Giant, for example?:” JOCK OF THE BAY. Nailed it. 
• “Overly serious Irish dancers?:” GRAVE JIGGERS. Makes me think of the classic Gravediggaz album, “Six Feet Deep.”
• “Write an order to replenish inventory of Levi’s?:” MAKE THE JEANS LIST.
• “Throwaway vault at a gymnastics meet?:” GARBAGE JUMP. I hope that an Olympics announcer has used this phrase. 
• “Shower gift for a Gemini baby?:” JUNE BUGGY. Works on so many levels.

I completed most of this one while chilling in the afternoon in Saigon, but had to close it out late last night after a city food tour, which of course ended with me trying “Balut” (great crossword word, btw), which is a boiled egg with a duck embryo inside it. It mostly tasted like the sauce that it was soaked in, but might have been tough conceptually if I wasn’t several beers in. Turns out “cheers” in Vietnam is “Yo!” 

But that’s the end of my free day and now it’s another work day in Vietnam in which I’ll have to BANTER with kids and counselors. At 6pm, I have a fitting for a couple suits, since I’m finally staying in one place in Asia long enough to get something like that taken care of.