Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: June 24, 2018

My time: 26:58, but I'm still proud because this was super tricky.

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Timothy Polin created this fearsome challenge.  A puzzle all about the movie JAWS.  There are a few themed words sprinkled through the puzzle, like SPIELBERG, AMITY ISLAND (that's where it takes place), MAN-EATING, SHARK, SEA MONSTER, and GREAT / WHITE.  There's even ska band REEL BIG FISH (whom I'm aware of but didn't know their song "Sell Out"). 

Then things get devious.  Suddenly (for me, anyway, as I didn't get to the center top until last), it's rebus time, with a bunch of [FIN]s, as in the "northern European" [FIN]NS, HU[FIN]ESS, RE[FIN]ANCE, [FIN]ISHERS ("ones eligible for marathon prizes" --- what a dreadful clue), and DORSAL [FIN]S.  Apparently if you play connect the dots with these [FIN] boxes you end up with a picture of a fin.  Huh.

In electromagnetism, a DIPOLE is a circulation of electric charges, or a separation of positive and negative charges.  In radio, it's a basic antenna, also called a doublet, that approximates this current with a node on each ed of two poles.  The most common form is the old rabbit ears antenna on TVs.

For "caffeinated drink with tapioca balls" I put *THAI TEA but it's BOBA TEA.  I knew that, dammit!

Are the Jurassic Park films really so beloved that they have deep fan bases like Harry Potter and Star Wars?  I mean, who can rattle off the top of their head the name of Laure Dern's character, Dr. ELLIE Sattler?

Is HGTS. really an acceptable abbreviation of heights? It looks stupid.

"Speedy wide receiver, perhaps" is DEEP THREAT.  I have never heard this term and it looks ridiculous to me.  Wasn't he revealed to be FBI agent Mark Felt?

"Symbols in calculus" is SIGMAS, which appeared on March 15.  This time I stupidly put *LEMMAS, which in mathematics are just propositions.

I know the author Martin AMIS, but not his 2010 book The Pregnant Widow, about the feminist revolution.

"Conventions" is STDS?  Why?

One of the many HYMNS I don't know is "In Dulci Jubilo."  It's a Christmas carol whose title means "in sweet rejoicing."

For "modest skirts" I put *MAXIS but it's MIDIS.

I also misspelled lyricist Sammy CAHN's name as *COHN.  He wrote "Three Coins in the Fountain" and "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"

"Small herrings" are SPRATS.  These fish are part of the family Clupeidae, like herrings, but taxonomically they aren't the same thing as herrings.

I've never heard of the YUZU, a Scrabbleriffic yellow citrus resembling a small grapefruit.  It is also called Citrus junos or yuja (in Korea).

According to idiots, LEOS are "proud, fiery types."  We learned on February 15 that Leo is a fire sign, for some reason.

California town Santa ANA appeared on April 24.

Clever clues: "Opposite of colorblindness?" is BIGOTRY.  "Mother or sister" is NUN (while "fathers or brothers" are HES).  "Staff leader?" is CLEF --- it's at the left-hand side, or head, of a musical staff.  "Is there in spirit?" is HAUNTS.  "Pink, e.g." is POP STAR.  "Mid-crisis hire, perhaps" is PR TEAM.

Whew!  I admired the amount of thought and planning that went into this puzzle, and the finished product is pretty NEATO.  Still, I'm looking forward to the Monday breather.