Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: July 10, 2018

My time: 6:44.

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Today, Alex Eaton-Salners bets that we can't deal with his crazy puns.  Riffing off the beloved (?) 1980s sitcom "FULL HOUSE," he arranges three themed answers that contain, as that poker hand does, three of one letter and two of another, in a row.  GRASS SEED has, for example, three Ss and two Es.  "Do my eyes deceive me?" is WELL LOOKY THERE! which has three Ls and two Os.  Finally, there's everyone's favorite "hearty breakfast" THREE EGG OMELET.

The Agua FRIA National Monument in Arizona is a desert region around the river of the same name.  The national monument also contains ancient sites, old mines and varied animal life

In my opinion, the words SERAPHIC, INSTILLS ("inculcates"), ASSAIL, ENTRE nous, and EXCORIATED, while not so terribly abstruse on their own, all together make up for a rather challenging word cloud for a Tuesday.

"Nonkosher deli offering" is... HAM SALAD.  That was not my first guess.  Or my next five guesses.  I'm surprised that this is a real thing.

ARTUR Rubinstein, the concert pianist, appeared on June 10.

Clever clues: "Org. from which many are drafted" is NCAA.  "Longtime members of the bar?" is SOTS.  "Throws on the floor?" is AREA RUGS.  "Lip or cheek" is SASS.  "Lots of fluff?" is EFFS --- as in, the word fluff is made up primarily of Fs, so lots of the word is EFFS. 

An easy-breezy Tuesday with a very clever theme.  I thought it was very well done, and enjoyed the aha moment when it came together.  Well, I'll be on my WEIGH now.