Saturday's New York Times puzzle solved: May 5, 2018

My time: 12:27, not too shabby!

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It's Cinco de Mayo, although if you were going solely by this themeless from Damon Gulczynski, you wouldn't know that.  Some fun fill in this one, such as HODGE-PODGE, HIGH-FALUTIN' ("fancy pants"), GET UP AND GO, WHY I OUGHTA..., END TIMES, SPUMED, GO HALFSIES, and even DIGERATI ("tech-savvy group," which I am surprised to learn that the Firefox spellchecker recognizes).

One answer crosses the whole grid: "I SAID GOOD DAY, SIR," which is impressive, but I slightly disagree that "take a hike, bub!" is the equivalent.  They're pretty different phrases in their delivery and intent.

I love POGO the possum and devoured all the books as a child and adult, but I don't recall him saying "Having lost sight of our objectives, we redoubled our efforts."  It may have appeared in the mouth of a rather more lucid speaker than the possum himself.

For "Japanese bowlful" I had *RICE but it's SOBA, buckwheat flour noodles.

For "food described in Exodus" I put *MANNA but it's MATZO!

"Unstable subatomic particle" is MUON, a type of lepton with greater mass than an electron.

The Big Red Machine is the nickname for the powerhouse Cincinnati Reds baseball team throughout the 1970s.  George "SPARKY" Anderson is the name of the manager who was with them for eight years of that decade, taking them to the World Series in 1975 and 1976.  Sparky who?

Chateau STE. Michelle is Washington state's oldest winery, located in Woodinville, outside Seattle.

"2013 Best Picture nominee with a major unseen female character" is HER.  No spoilers!  I haven't seen that yet.

A three-letter word for "neutral color" stumped me for a bit.  It's ASH.

I disagree that "sentences" is a necessary or sufficient clue for DOOMS.

Who doesn't love an analogy clue?  "Axilla : armpit :: coxa :" HIP.  Axe body spray for your axilla, Cox body spray for your hip region!

ENOS Slaughter was a right fielder who played in four World Series and ten All-Star games.  He is best known for hitting the winning run in game seven of the 1946 World Series, Cardinals vs. Red Sox.  His nickname was "Country."

"One with a focus in mathematics" is tricky.  It's PARABOLA, which is a set of point equally distant from a point on an axis, known as the focus, and the directrix, which is a separate given line.  So, clever clue, if you're a mathematician.

AMARETTO is an almond-flavored liqueur that is can be an ingredient in tiramisu, though brandy and rum are often used as well.

It seems like there are a lot of swimmers in the New York Times puzzle.  DARA Torres has won twelve Olympic medals over five, count them five, Olympic games.  Let's all take a moment to respect that physical and mental strength.

Old-timey actor and director IDA Lupino first appeared September 26, 2017.

KOA showed up in a clue on February 2.  This time I got it right off.

Clever clues: "Leader of a long race?" is ADAM.  "Code violation requiring an emergency exit" is ENDLESS LOOP.  "Butler of fiction" had me trying to think of a Jeeves-like character but it's RHETT, ha ha.  "Night sticks?" puzzled the hell out of me!  It's ROOSTS, with "sticks" as in neighborhoods. "Start of an intermission?" is ENTR'.

That's a lot of new material.  I'm glad I managed to do as well as I did.  Gotta look on the bright side and not be a SOREHEAD.