My time: 12:57, seven minutes faster than average.
Although I did this one fairly quickly, I thought it was pretty hard. There were a lot of answers that I only filled in by making reasonable guesses. Getting things from the context has always been a skill I've had since very young childhood. That's NERD CRED for you.
I only filled in SAC from crossfill, because "alveolus" isn't in my word bank. It means a cavity, pit, or cell in anatomy.
I knew there was a SALK Institute, but I didn't know it was in San Diego. Technically, the Salk Institute is located in La Jolla, California, "just minutes away from the Torrey Pines State Reserve, an internationally renowned glider port, sparkling beaches, and a world class golf course."
"Pro Bowl team that wears blue jerseys" is NFC. I would never have guessed that. It sounds like a sports league. In fact, I still have no idea what that means. Isn't that the National Football Conference?
Soccer player Megan RAPINOE has come up before. Today she's clued as "Sports Illustrated's 2019 Sportsperson of the Year."
"Asheville-to-Knoxville dir." is WNW. It would have helped had I known that Asheville is in North Carolina.
Meghan Markle played Rachel ZANE for seven seasons on "Suits," a show I have never seen. Also, I don't pay attention to royals and their weddings.
"Construction sight" is DIGGER? Who calls an excavator a DIGGER? Kids.
I thought "ink saver" was *PENCIL but it's PEN CAP.
The ISOTONES are a smooth do-wop group from the '50s who had their first hit, "I'm Positively Attracted To You," in... No, I'm just kidding. Isotone refers to any two atoms that have the same number of neutrons.
Apparently AKRON is the home to Minor League Baseball's RubberDucks. It's Quakron, Ohio! There's a lot of sports in this puzzle!
I didn't know who was in the movie 17 Again, one of the many Freaky Friday kid-parent switcheroo films made by Hollywood, but how many Zacs are there, really? Zac EFRON is the only one I know.
GYMNASIA is and always will be an ugh answer, unless clued as "thing no one ever says."
I forgot about the Knights of REN from Star Wars. Actually I think I missed that movie.
Finance reporter Ron INSANA came up on May 18, 2018, when I said "he seems relatively unknown for inclusion in a New York Times puzzle."
"Flammable compound with two carbons," or ETHANE, has come up often. It's C2H6.
Clever clues: "Unbiased opinion, e.g." is OXYMORON. "Collection of seeds?' is BRACKET; that's a good one. "Music of the night?" is TAPS.
This was another well-constructed puzzle with some good fill (GLAMPING, RAGE-QUIT, DUCT TAPE, CORNHOLE) and a little bit not so good (PURGATION, GYMNASIA). Cleverly-written clues kept me guessing. I did not UNLIKE it.
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