My time: 17:01, about two minutes slower than the record. Not bad at all! I did it IN A SNAP!
Theme: "Title Basin'," which is the title of the crossword. The title is itself an example of the theme, in which several titles have their last word replaced with a homonym (or two, in the case of JULIUS SEES HER).
The theme gave me no trouble, as "Yann Martel's baking memoir" could only be LIFE OF PIE. I ike "Voltaire's sweet novel," or CANDIED. I think "Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's pet story?" is not a great clue for THE LITTLE PRINTS. Something like "Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's story of trailing a small person" maybe? Eh, it needs work.
For "shunned, with 'out'" I put *CAST and that had me puzzled in the top right for a bit. I don't think "ICED out" is as good an answer.
"What a figure skate has that a hockey skate lacks" is TOE PICK. They are a hockey player's number one nemesis: the dreaded toe pick. Toe picks are located at the front end of a figure skate. They're small, sawlike ridges at the front of a skate that assist figure skaters in executing their tricks, jumps and lands on the ice.
MRI is a common crossword answer, but today it's clued as "scan that excites hydrogen atoms." I did not know anything about how an MRI works. The body is largely composed of water molecules. Each water molecule has two hydrogen nuclei or protons. MRI takes advantage of the high prevalence of hydrogen in the body and the magnetic properties of the proton in a hydrogen atom. Hydrogen atoms induce a small magnetic field due to the spin of this atom's proton.
I'm familiar with Debussy, but not "NUIT d'Etoiles." It's a solo voice piece with piano.
ELENA Ferrante is a pseudonym for an Italian novelist. Her four-book series of Neapolitan novels are her most widely known works.
I've heard of ECRU, but I could not figure out "neutral paint color" FLAX even with three letters.
I've never heard of Dutch dance act 2 Unlimited or any of their... uh, songs, but "Y'ALL ready for this?" is as easy enough slang phrase to guess.
HOT DESK is a new term to me. It means "share a workspace, in modern lingo."
"It's possible" is not a great clue for I MAY. Also, I really hate the spelling TE-HEE.
"First official port of entry to the United States" is SAG Harbor. Today a town of about 2,000 in the Hamptons, its landmarks include structures associated with whaling and its early days when it was designated as the first port of entry to the new United States. It had the first United States custom house erected on Long Island.
An EXTERN is a nonresident doctor, a visiting physician perhaps.
Never heard of SNL cast member HEIDI Gardner. She seems to have been in a lot of mediocre film and TV.
Lover of Orion EOS appeared on July 4, 2018.
Clever clues: "Beat" is SPENT. "Call to reserve?" is LET. "Bullet alternatives: abbr." is not *BBS, but NOS., as in numbers instead of bullet points. "What can take a punch?" is LADLE.
This was an okay Sunday puzzle. The theme was just sort of there, with no capper, and it didn't even have any consistency. I thought it might be food-related homophones when I saw both LIFE OF PIE and IN SEARCH OF LOST THYME, but no. It's just homophones, and the last one is kind of a cheat. Don't get me wrong, I still admire the craft that goes into puzzles like this. It's just this one isn't as tight as it could be. AND SCENE!
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