Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 23, 2021

My time: 13:33, six minutes faster than average.

MABEL is the role of a soprano in "Pirates of Penzance," a ward of Major-General Stanley, and the love interest of pirate Frederic. 

Did you know the National TOY Hall of Fame is in Rochester, NY?  Now you do!  It's located within The Strong, an interactive, collections-based educational institution devoted to the study and exploration of play.  That's an odd name.

Esther ROLLE played Florida Evans on both "Maude" and "Good Times."

I usually have a broader interpretation of the clues' words, but "gags" had me only thinking about choking or muffling, so the joke meaning eluded me for a bit.  It's PUT-ONS.

I've never watched any shows on SHARK WEEK, but I got it instantly from "the 'Dominating the Deep' DVD set." 

Instead of the Jezebel of Jazz Anita, today we get a different O'DAY, Danny O'Day, the dummy for ventriloquist Jimmy Nelson.  Wikipedia: "He is most famous for commercials for Nestlé chocolate featuring Farfel the Dog."  That's kind of poignant, isn't it?

"Finance co. rebranded as Ally Financial" is GMAC.  The company was founded in 1919 by General Motors (GM) as the General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) to provide financing to automotive customers.

I've actually heard this before but couldn't recall it clearly: the source of the word paparazzi is a character in LA DOLCE VITA, named Paparazzo.  The surname itself is of no special significance in the film; it is said to be a common one in Calabria, and Fellini is said to have borrowed it from a travel book, By the Ionian Sea, in which occurs the name of hotel owner Coriolano Paparazzo.

ETON is a crossword frequent flier.  It's near Windsor, it was founded by Henry VI, it's a cap, it's a collar, Chariots of Fire was partly filmed there.  How to clue it in a way that isn't old hat?  Just list an alum!  "Early educator of George Orwell."  Done. 

I'm not a science guy, so "10 micronewtons" means nothing to me. It's DYNE.  A DYNE is the force required to accelerate a mass of one gram at a rate of one centimeter per second squared.  An erg is the amount of work done by a force of one dyne exerted for a distance of one centimeter.  I'm confused already.

For "Grammy winner with the surname Adkins," I put *TRACE, but it's ADELE, as was discussed on November 18, 2020.

"Star NFL receiver" ODELL Beckham Jr. has appeared twice before.  I always forget him.

Clever clues: "Bands popular in the '70s" is MOOD RINGS.  "Offer sheet?" is HIT LIST, because the names on it are people to be offed.  "Reached the point of no return?" is BROKE EVEN.  "Things that generate a lot of cookie dough?" is BAKE SALES.  "Course division" had me stumped for a while, because I only thought about college courses, not golf courses: HOLE.

I liked this puzzle!  Great fill like WORDS FAIL ME, I BELIEVE SO, ESPERANTO, POT DE CREME, and OLD SMOKEY.  Fair but challenging clues.  Too hard?  NAW.