Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: June 14, 2018

My time: 11:57.

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Sorry, Joe Krozel, but this one was pretty boring and poorly executed.  The theme is a word ladder, which is inherently boring when you get clues like "third word..." and "eighth word..."  Even the clues are bored --- see those ellipses?  They can barely get the words out.

And it's poorly executed, because it has multiple superfluous steps.  The complete word ladder runs:

ROLL, POLL, PALL, PALM, CALM, CALL, MALL, MALE, MATE, MOTE, VOTE.

See how PALL could go straight to CALL without the unnecessary couple of words between them?

The capper of these blah theme is "way to put legislators on record," which highlights three of the words: ROLL CALL VOTE.  Okay, but... why?

The fill wasn't exactly thrilling either.

"Double purpose viewing equipment" TV/VCR should have "obsolete" in front of it.

AISHA Tyler is a talk show host, actress, and producer, but I know her best as the voice of Lana Kane in "Archer."

Of the famous ARLOS, we all know Guthrie, but Arlo Bates was a 19th century novelist who is largely forgotten now.

The constellation Aquila appeared as an answer on September 2, 2017, but this is the first time we've had ALTAIR, also called Alpha Aquilae and the twelfth  brightest star in the night sky.  It is located in the neck of the eagle.

In legal jargon, criminal intent is described as MENS REA, Latin for "guilty mind."

"Part of ASAP" is a bad clue for truly bad fill: SOON AS.  Even as soon would have been better.

Gum arabic is the hardened sap of the ACACIA tree, an African shrub also known as a wattle.  Ha ha!

I'm not really on a first name basis with WILLEM de Kooning, a modern Dutch-American abstract expressionist painter and sculptor.  I'd probably vote him down in the Infinite Art Tournament against most anybody.

The powerful engine term HEMI last appeared on March 24.

Clever clues: "Start to instigate?" is LETTER I. 

Well, I HADST a poor time with this puzzle.  Boring go-nowhere clues and a theme that falls flat took me from being AMPED to feeling not so RAD.  Some editor needed to AMEND this theme.