My time: 12:19, twice as slow as my record but still more than two minutes faster than average.
Theme: This is a tricky one, and I was quite baffled until I got SILVER BULLET. The clue is "aground," and I had no idea why; I just filled it in from the crosses. Then it hit me! (And if I was a werewolf, I would have died.) The clue is to be read in two parts: as the symbol of an element plus a word. So "aground" is actually Ag round, or SILVER (Ag) and then BULLET, meaning a round.
Only then did I realize why "cold" meant CARBON DATED; it's C + old. "Female" is Fe + male, or IRON MAN. And so forth. For "siding?" it's SILICON CHIP; that's an odd one because only in a narrow set of circumstances does ding mean CHIP.
Tricky! And there's no hint to this devious cluing anywhere in the puzzle!
I thought "doctor's order" might be *SCRIP but it's SAY AH.
Aden has been an answer several times in the puzzle. but today the Gulf of Aden is the clue, and its resident is SOMALI. The Gulf lies to the south of Yemen and north of Somalia and Djibouti. Bonus fact: according to legend, Cain and Abel are buried in the port of Aden, Yemen.
For "dermatologist's concern?" you can always reliably put acne, rash, or CYST.
I knew that an AKITA is a Japanese dog, but not that AKITA is a prefecture in north-west Japan.
Top round steak is a LEAN CUT and usually tough, so it's inexpensive and is usually pounded into cube steak to make it tenderer.
CPAS is "frequent filers;" the problem is I consistently read that is frequent fliers and didn't understand the answer.
We learned that YOGI BERRA has a record ten World Series championships (as a player) on April 5, 2018.
Clever clues abound today: "What's anything but neutral?" is ION. "Sound track?" is EAR CANAL. "Figure for determining one's grade in school" is AGE; this cleverly plays on the way "grade" is used two ways in school. "Foil, e.g." is BLADE; I tried to put *EVADE. "It hits close to home" is BAT. "One on a slippery slope" is SKI. "It may be glossed over" is LIP. "You may find a range of these" is MTS. "Resistance figure" is OMEGA. "A constant celebration?" is PI DAY. "Clicking sound?" is AHA. "Cup holder" is BRA. Whew!
I liked this! It was quite a challenge.
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