My time: 24:27, four and a half minutes slower than average.
This one just kicked my butt. I got the southeast corner done in under seven minutes, but after that nearly everything else was a total slog.
No, I had no idea that General Mills once owned SLIM JIM, and I think that's a boring and frustrating clue — it's not current, not interesting, and not intuitive. Here's some snack-related history: Adolph Levis, the inventor of Slim Jims, sold his company, to General Mills. In the year 1970, Jesse Jones Sausage Co was bought by General Mills and merged with Slim Jim Inc. to form a new company called GoodMark Foods. GoodMark Foods eventually became a separate company until GoodMark was acquired by the company ConAgra in the year 1998 for 225 million US dollars.
For "words from one preparing to knock back a few," I was flummoxed. I tried *HERE'S MUD (as in "...in your eye"), but it's LINE 'EM UP.
The "Black Paintings" are examples of GOYAS. They are a series of 14 bleak pictures, including the famous Saturn Devouring His Son.
"Squiggly musical symbols" is QUARTER RESTS.
The tenor part in Gaetano Donizetti's opera "Don Pasquale" (which just came up September 18). The tenor is ERNESTO, Pasquale's nephew who refuses to marry a wealthy lady, so is threatened with disinheritance.
Figure skater TAI Bablionia is yet another in a series of athletic figures I don't know or care about. Babilonia was the first figure skater of partial African-American descent to compete for the United States at Olympics and win world titles.
And the golfing term LIP-OUT, which describes when the ball touches the rim of the cup but doesn't fall in.
I knew that vespa means wasp, so I thought "vespa mandarinia" might be killer wasp, but it's MURDER HORNET. Also known as the Asian or Japanese giant hornet.
I don't understand why "blasted" is LIT.
I've heard of John Le Carré's character GEORGE SMILEY, but didn't know the 1961 novel Call For the Dead, which is where he made his first appearance.
LUNESTA is an anti-insomnia drug. Never heard of it.
The musical direction TANTO, meaning "so much" (like molto), just came up on October 14, but I forgot all about it.
Clever clues: "Temple offering" is DEG; it's referring to the school. "Without a script, briefly" is OTC. "Letters for a proof reader" is QED. "Occasion for smoking" is BARBEQUE. "One found among the reeds" is not Moses but an OBOIST.
Well. I wish I could say I LIKED IT and it was SWELL, but this was a real hassle for me. I found it rather DEVILISH to solve. They can't all be gems. Or attuned to my wavelength.
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