My time: 19:41, exactly five minutes faster than the average.
Theme: "Double-Crossed." That title, and the note that "in the newspaper version of this puzzle, each of the six circled squares contains a slash that divides the square in two," clued me in early that this would be a rebus.
So, in each circled square you must enter two sets of double letters. For example, "some entertainers at children's birthday parties" is BA[LLOO]N ARTISTS. But! This arrangement of the two doubles will not work going the other way. The answer intersecting the circled square will feature the two pairs in reverse order. As in, "Sallie Mae products," which is SCH[OOL L]OANS.
Another example: "visual phenomenon created by short flashes of light" is STROB[E EFF]ECT. And so, the word crossing that must contain ff ee, because the double pair is reversed. That answer, for "Nestlé creamer," is CO[FFEE] MATE.
I hope that's clear. And now, the fill.
The BBC as a Corporation might have been established by Royal Charter in 1926, but it was founded in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company.
Gilbert ARENAS was a basketball player who played in... arenas?
In other sports news, did you know that Chris EVERT won at least one Grand Slam title for a record 13 straight years? Famous golfer Jack Nicklaus called this “The greatest record in sports.”
And more (sigh) sports: SID the Kid is the nickname for Sidney Crosby, center for the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins.
I'm not up on my royals. Princess EUGENIE is Prince Andrew's youngest daughter.
Miosis means excessive contraction of the pupil. The adjective form, MIOTIC, means having or causing constriction of the pupils.
A MESON is a subatomic particle composed of a quark and an antiquark. Mesons are bosons! Three quark combos are called baryons.
I don't think I've heard of the Sleeves Up campaign, but it's pretty easy to guess that it's about vaccinations, or, as is the right answer, a BL[OOD D]RIVE.
"Beer in a green bottle" is STE[LLA A]RTOIS.
The three UNESCO World Heritage Sites in AGRA are the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, and Fatehpur Sikri. They're all very impressive!
"Word before bag or bar" is GRAB. Grab-bag I know; a grab bar is a bathroom safety feature for people who need help with their balance in the bath or shower.
Here's a new way to have hoary old chestnut AIDA in the fill: name a song from it! "Every Story is a Love Story" is the opening song from the Broadway musical version, by Elton John and Tim Rice.
MISSOULA is home to the University of Montana.
A Z4 is a BMW roadster convertible two-seater. A Q50 is an Infiniti sports sedan. So they are both a kind of CAR.
Tony winner IDINA Menzel was in the clue on October 28, 2020. It asked about a role for her, which is Maureen Johnson, from "Rent."
I never seem to get it through my thick skull that the VOLGA is the longest river in Europe, despite its many appearances in this blog.
The OAS, the Organization for American States, last appeared on December 2, 2020.
Famed firefighter Red ADAIR was mentioned on September 26, 2019.
Actress EVA Green of Casino Royale appeared a couple of times.
"QB's passing stat" is, once again, ATT, for Attempted Passes.
The word for immature egg cell, OOCYTE, appeared on September 14, 2018.
Easy two-pointer LAY-UP was clued as "easy buckets" on August 12, 2018.
Clever clue: "What's more, it's said" is LESS. "One whose calling is making calls?" is UMP. "What tots might go after?" is TATER.
Whew! This was an interesting puzzle. I think things might have gone differently, and I might have been more frustrated than challenged, if I hadn't read the title and descriptor of the two-art squares first. If I could just remember all these little answers that come up so often I might even be able to solve a bit faster.
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