Saturday's New York Times puzzle solved: April 28, 2018

My time: 19:31.

--

Andrew Kingsley and John Lieb team up to construct this impressive themeless.  Just look at that quality fill: ESPERANTO, POST-TRUTH, PIXY STIX, TRILOBITE, I'M A GONER, SEXY BEAST, PROXIES, STONE TOOL, OMEGA DOG.

Then there's the rest:

Twyla THARP is a choreographer who uses pop music: the Beach Boys ballet "Deuce Coupe," and the dance musicals "The Times They Are A-Changin'," "Movin' Out," and "Come Fly With Me."  Her first name would be better fill.

A new term to me is the LAG shot in pool, the shot that determines who gets to break.

Fu-HSI (note the obsolete Wade-Giles romanization; should be Fuxi) is a mythological hero, credited with creating humanity, plus the skills of writing, fishing, hunting, and cooking.  So, a bit of an over-achiever, then.

According to the puzzle, AGRA, Uttar Pradesh, inspired the sultan's palace in the animated movie of Aladdin.  I assume that would be Taj Mahal, so not really the city itself inspiring the palace, as the clue says.

SIMONE Weil was a French philosopher who allied herself with the Anarchists and the working class, but later turned to mysticism.

ACER has had a few taglines over the years, like "Easy is Acer" and "Empowering people," but they also have "Explore beyond limits."

I find the clue "early Macy's Day Parade balloon designer" to be amusing.  Surely we all know Tony SARG, early Macy's Day Parade balloon designer!  He was German-American, and the father of modern puppetry in America.  He made several historically important animated films as well.

EDD Byrnes, star of "77 Sunset Strip," sure spelled his name funny.  He was also in Grease.

Another actor I don't know: RAMI MALEK, Emmy-winning lead of "Mr. Robot."

The novel Of Mice and Men, which I have read three times, takes place in SALINAS Valley, which I had long forgotten, if indeed I ever retained it for more than a fleeting second.

"Tosspot" is the clue for SPONGE.  A tosspot is a drunk who tosses the pots back.  Another newish word is EVERTS.  To evert something is to turn it inside-out.  Like a starfish does with its own stomach!

T-TOP has come up several times now.  Apparently the early Pontiac Grand Prix models used to have them.

The REBELS were mentioned as the team of Ole Miss way back on August 30, 2017.

Musical mark SEGNO, meaning to be repeated, came up on October 21, 2017.

Clever clues: "Crude craft" is OILER.  "Piano piece" is LEG.  "Part of a fault line?" is MEA.

Well, this puzzle was quite a MIX of challenging and fun.   I did NOT DO as well as I'd liked, but I VEAL okay about it.  NO PUN INTENDED?