Saturday, October 10, 2020

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: October 10, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 15:17, five minutes faster than average.  There was nothing particularly difficult about this one, just some vague, open-ended clues like "battle cry" (both IT'S WAR and I'M HIT).

Here is a new one to me and everyone I know: BOOBIRD, an "angry arenagoer, in slang."  It dates from 1934!

I don't think I've ever heard of the MAC JR., a McDonald's food item that is a single-patty version of the Big Mac, first rolled out in 2017.  There's also the Grand Mac, which is made with two 1/3 pound patties.  The tagline for the Junior is "all the flavor, one less layer."  Now I kind of want to try both.

Did you know TITS come in white-fronted and chestnut-bellied varieties?  And also pink-tipped. 

More animal fun: the HOBO spider is, according to the clue, named for its presence around train tracks.  Wikipedia says the name is in reference to its western European habitat in fields, woods, and under rocks. It is also known as funnel web spider.

I didn't know what AVON was once known as the California Perfume Company, but it's easy enough to guess.

I also didn't know there was an additional Milanese soccer club called INTER MILAN (short for Internazionale Milan), nor that it won three Champions League titles (in 1964, 1865, and 2010).  To be fair, however, I didn't and still don't care.

OVID's Ars Amatoria was explained in salacious detail on October 8, 2018.

I had no clue about SEIJI OZAWA, head of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1973 to 2002.  This despite the fact that he has appeared in the blog three times before, the most recent being May 31, 2018.

Clever clues: "Remote hiding spot?" is SOFA.  "Turning the tables?" is DJING.

This was a nice Saturday.  Challenging but not infuriating, with some very interesting fill, like FATS DOMINO, the aforementioned SEIJI OZAWA, SPACE PROBE, OL' MAN RIVER, and JACUZZIS.

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