Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 29, 2018

My time: 10:29, two seconds slower than average.

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I did this one in a bit of a torpor late at night.  I could have moved a little faster.  Not much was new to me, but it was slow going nevertheless. 

Enough whining, Alibi Ike.  Scrabble-winning name Alex Bajcz thought up this one, which offers geographical anagramming fun for the whole family.  In four clues, he asks about work in a metropolis, and the answer shows that the work done is an anagram of the city name.

"Work as a metropolitan health official?" is DIAGNOSE SAN DIEGO, which sounds like an old-school ER-type TV show on CBS.  "Works as a metropolitan census taker?" is COUNTS TUCSON.  "Work as a metropolitan traffic engineer" is HASTEN ATHENS, which is the lamest of the quartet.  And "works as a metropolitan reclaimant?" is SALVAGES LAS VEGAS.

Once I understood the theme, the themed answers practically filled themselves in, so that was a big help.

As for the fill...

I'm so tired of Big Ten and Big Twelve schools.  I honestly do not care a rat's ass.  Anyone, one of the the mythic Ten is NEBR, for what that's worth.  Go 'Huskers.

"Works of Dalí, e.g." is ARTE.  Yes, yes, very high-falutin'.  Well done.

OBOE comes up a lot in the puzzle.  On December 5, 2017 it was clued as having "cane blades."  Today it's clued as having "a bore and a bell."  The bell is the flared edge of the bore.

For "least likely to harm" is put *SAFEST, but it's TAMEST, which cost me time also.

The BLACK SEA has also been an answer several times before, but never clued as the outlet of the Danube.

That Helen Keller co-founded the ACLU was learned way back on September 26, 2017.  And I remembered!

Obama education secretary ARNE Duncan appeared as lately as August 16.  And I didn't remember!

Clever clues: "Rough spots for teens?" is ACNE.  "It gets depressed on the road" is BRAKE (a variation of which appeared on September 9, 2017).  "Things get crazy when all of them are off" is  BETS.  "Yellow belly?" is ELS.  "Wet blankets?" is SLEETS.

And that's it for me this Wednesday.  Let's be REALISTS: they can't all be big wins.  I'm better suited for cruciverbing than I am KENKEN, anyway.  On to tomorrow, maybe.