Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: September 19, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 14:19, six minutes faster than average.

I did about three-quarters of this puzzle in about seven minutes; the three long Across answers were particularly easy for a Saturday.  But then I spent about the same amount of time on a small section, mostly the southeast corner.

I had no memory of what Emperor Zurg or his ION blaster might be.  I saw Toy Story 2 but I forgot about Zurg. The ION blaster seems to shoot small green Nerf balls.

I put ELMS pretty quickly for "symbols of hope during the American and French Revolutions" because the same answer was clued as "Liberty Tree and others" yesterday.

RES publica is a Latin phrase basically meaning "the republic" or "the state," literally "the thing that is the people."

I paused a bit on ICEES, clued as being sold in pouches — we always got them in cups. Apparently this is a new phenomenon.

I was also surprised to find BATH HOUSES as the answer to "historic sites in Hot Springs, Ark."  I didn't know they actually had those.  I thought it was just a name, like Meadowcrest or something.

"Something avoided by a person with teleophobia" is PLAN.  It's a made-up fear of making definite plans or religious ceremonies!  This is what we call a distaste for, not a true phobia.

Frederick LOEWE has come up before as the composer to "Gigi."  Today he's clued as the composer of "Camelot."

For "unlikely serving as a Michelin-starred restaurant" I put *SLOP but it's the much worse GLOP, and this held me up for some time.

KONA has come up quite a few times in the puzzle, clued in various ways indicating a Big Island coffee bean.

HEME, the red pigment in blood, was seen in the puzzle on January 27, 2018.

I had completely forgotten her, but Georgia ENGEL, who played Georgette on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," has come up a couple of times in the past.

And OLGA, the eldest sister in "Three Sisters," has come up several times.

Clever clues: "Smart relative?" is ACHE.  "Wedding ring" is HORA, which really stymied me for a while; I put *BAND and wondered why nothing was fitting.  "Classic couples' retreat?" is ARK.  "Some quotes" is a pretty cagey clue for ESTS.

And there you have it!  BOOM.