My time: 8:41, but in my defense I wasted over a minute staring off into space, not realizing the puzzle timer was running.
Theme: CATCHPHRASE, but actually not! Several themed answers have words that are antonyms of "catch!" ELEVATOR PITCH, SUMMER FLING (like in Grease), and GROUND CHUCK. Isn't that pleasantly madcap?
The number one most difficult answer for me was "action figure." It's DOER. But two of its crosses had me puzzled for quite a while, as detailed below.
For "nowadays many of them are targeted" I immediately put *ABS and thought myself pretty clever, because, you know, exercises, but it's ADS.
I never know how they're going to spell an Egyptian God. Today's it AMEN-RA. Could be Amun-Ra tomorrow.
So, one of the crosses for DOER is ALFONSO Ribeiro, a name I have very rarely seen. (I put *ALFONSE.) He was in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," and he was Ricky Schroeder's best friend on "Silver Spoons." And apparently he's now the host of "America's Funniest Home Videos." Is that still on?
The other cross for DOER is "kitchen gadget for making mashed potatoes." I put *DICER. This gave me *DEED for "action figure," which I knew was wrong, but how?! Eventually I figured it out. It's RICER!
I see Christian saying something about beauty, I'm going to put DIOR. Just sayin'.
The BRENNER PASS is a mountain pass through the Alps which forms the border between Italy and Austria. It is one of the principal passes of the Eastern Alpine range and has the lowest altitude among Alpine passes of the area.
I wonder if SPACEY was originally clued as something about Kevin and someone along the line decided to use "absent-minded" instead.
Michelle YEOH was in Tomorrow Never Dies, Crouching Tiger, "Strike Back," and "Star Trek: Discovery."
"Suffragist and longtime leader in the National Women's Party" ALICE PAUL was showcased in the theme of August 18's puzzle. Maybe I'll remember her now!
Clever clue: "Space force, informally" is ZERO-G. The clue, as intended, had me thinking about Trump's (and Carrell's) Space Force, but of course it's the physical force in space. I keep reading it as "Zerog," like an alien warlord in a Star, either Trek or Wars.
This was a fun theme. I like how ELEVATOR PITCH is a Down answer. It didn't help with the solve, though. I had already filled in most of the theme answers by the time I had time to read the lengthy explanation after "popular expression" in the capper clue. I don't have a lot of PRIDE in today's time. I know I KIN do better.
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