Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: July 8, 2018

My time: 22:15.

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Bruce Haight forged this Sunday puzzle that features word chains of "person, place, and thing," as the title indicates.  It's a simple theme, but silly and delightful.  The first themed clue is "Singer / City / Home Feature" and the answer is AL GREEN BAY WINDOWS.  "Socialite / Resort / Store" is PARIS HILTON HEAD SHOP --- whoops, that one's not for the kiddies I guess.

"Political commentator / Geographical area / Fitness routine" is OLIVER NORTH POLE DANCE.  Huh.  I guess today's puzzle is a little blue. Anyway, there are a couple of others.  My favorite is MAE WEST BANK HEIST.  Something about all those monosyllables just tickles me.

I'm not especially fond of clues that expect you to spell onomatopoeia "correctly," whatever that is.  A heavy hit is WHUMP?  Not *WHOMP?  Whoomp!  There it is.

For "princess with superpowers" I put *LEIA but it's XENA.  Well played, Haight.  But the day will be mine!

When you do a leg press, your target is your QUAD, or quadriceps femoris, a group of muscles around the thigh.

This is a sort of thing you hear or read about often, but for me it never sticks: the amount of each gas in the universe, or in Earth's atmosphere, or whatever.  The third-most abundant gas in the atmosphere is ARGON, after Nitrogen and Oxygen, and then Neon and Helium.  You can remember this by using the clever mnemonic: in the air, Nine Oxen Are Near Heat.  (In the universe, it's Hydrogen, Helium, Oxygen, Neon.)

"Longtime 'Inside the NBA' analyst" is O'NEAL, as in Shaq.  Along with fellow ballers Charles Barkley and Kenny "the Jet" Smith!

I've heard of "Speed-the-Plow," but needed help that the author is David MAMET.  It's a satire of the movie business, just like one of my favorites, State And Main.

Not being a Potterhead, I did not know what Professor Trelawney is an example of.  Apparently she's a SEER.  I see 'er in the movie, don't I.

Meryl Streep played KAY Graham in the movie The Post.  Katherine Graham, first female publisher of a major American newspaper, was a real person, possibly less steely and saintly than Streep's portrayal.

I'm sure this isn't news to the ladies, but an UPDO is a hair style --- "many a pageant coif."  And UPDO to you, too, sir!

Never heard of YAKOV Perelman, Russian author of popular science books.  He is best known for his 1913 book Physics For Entertainment.

I could have sworn I've showcased this answer before, but I-BARS are girders.  Mostly called I-beams and not bars, they are also known as H-beam, w-beam, universal beam, rolled steel joist, or double-T beam.

It's hard to believe that EMO RAP is a thing, but whatever.  You do you, man.

In actual music, TUTTI is a notation meaning "all together."

The Godfather is one of the great cinematic masterpieces of all time, but I can't recall every character and what happened to them.  MOE Greene was a casino owner in Las Vegas and when he pushed against the Corleones coming into his territory, he was shot in the eye during a massage.  Whoops, spoiler!  It sure was a memorable scene, though.  As soon as I saw the last name, I remembered him.

BERYL appeared on May 13 as "emerald or aquamarine," exactly like today.

OLGA, the eldest sister in the play "Three Sisters," appeared on April 24.

The famed yearly Royal Regatta has been held in HENLEY-on-Thames since 1836, as shown way, way back on October 22, 2017.

Clever clues: "Make a good point?" is SCORE.  "Dog tag?" is FIDO.  "Some singles" is EXES.  "Primary concern" is VOTE.  "Take a few pointers?" is DOGNAP, ha!  "Try this!" is CASE.  "Flying Solo" is HAN, of course.  "Cubist of note?" is RUBIK.  "High wind" is OBOE.

G-MAN, this was really fun!  Love the word chains and WHATNOT.  ABSOLUT genius.  Well, TTYL, MATE.