Monday's New York Times puzzle solved: March 5, 2018

My time: 4:40 on the nose.

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I'm back!  I did not complete Sunday's, Saturday's, or Friday's puzzles.  Family were in town.

Lynn Lempel has us try this one on for size: phrases that include clothes.  CITY SLICKER, BLUESTOCKING ("woman having literary interests," from a formerly derisive term for such a group of bookish ladies, Blue Stocking society), STUFFED SHIRT, and SMARTY PANTS.

"First zodiac sign" is ARIES, which, as we have learned, is a fire sign.

I don't think I ever knew that the Prius is made by TOYOTA.

Did you know that Lou GEHRIG was on six winning World Series teams (that is, the same club but six different years)?  Me neither.  I saw "Lou" and words that implied baseball, and wrote his name in.  Spelled wrong.  Then wrong a different way.  Then finally right.

In other sports news, I've never heard of KATIE Ledecky, five-time Olympic gold and fourteen-time World Champion swimmer.  She holds a lot of records.

I have heard of Sam SNEAD (from early "Peanuts" comics), but I didn't know he was called Slammin' Sammy!

The name GAYLE King means nothing to me, but she has been the co-anchor of "CBS This Morning" since 2012.  I don't watch morning television programs.

The clue "fierce flyers of myth" isn't very apt for ROCS.  The dominant characteristic of ROCS is their immense size, not their ferocity.

Dev PATEL shows up in crosswords so much for both his first and last names, I now know him right off the bat!

Clever clue: "What you might come across at a river?" is BRIDGE.

I'm not GAGA about this puzzle.  There's no capper or reason for the theme, and the clues are pretty straightforward, but at least I got through it fairly quickly.