Saturday's New York Times crossword solved: October 20, 2018

My time: 12:36.

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AHOY THERE!  Ben Gross and James Somers are responsible for this themeless, which was probably built around the modern phrase NETFLIX AND CHILL.  It's definitely a coup for them as constructors, but there are few other good bits as well, like BITE-SIZED ("easy to eat, in a way"), FLIP PHONES ("dead ringers" --- as in obsolete phones; that's a good one), and RENT-A-COP.

The Greek symbols known as PSIS have come up a couple of times, but today they're clued as "sorority letters."

Did you know Marie ANTOINETTE married at the age of fourteen?  Me neither.  They do say that it took seven more years for the marriage to be consummated, so whew.

The Israel P.M. between Netanyahu and Sharon is Ehud BARAK, who held the post from 1999 to 2001.  The one who was between Sharon and Netanyahu (the second time) was Ehud Olmert.

CODY, Wyoming, is home to the Buffalo Bill Museum.  It's an easy answer to guess, of course.  The museum itself looks like fun.   It contains five museums in one, including the Draper Natural History Museum, the Plains Indian Museum, the Cody Firearms Museum, the Whitney Western Art Museum and the Buffalo Bill Museum.

The LAC de Neuchâtel, in German the Neuenburgersee, located in Romandy, Switzerland and is the largest lake located entirely in that country.

"They're hard to beat" refers to GREAT ODDS, which sounds off to me.  I would have accepted low odds, but "great" ones?  What does that even mean?  Anyway, I had *GREATESTS at first, like the Alis and Serenas of the world, hard to beat.

On September 30, Merlot and zinfandel were offered as examples of full-bodied wine.  Today it's a SHIRAZ that is said to be full-bodied.

The Latin pronoun ILLE means "he," as in "festinare nocet, nocet et cunctatio saepe; tempore quaeque suo qui facit, ille sapit."

I'm not sure I agree that "panegyric" is a sufficient clue for EULOGY.  They are used in different contexts.

Clever clues: "Powerful ray" is MANTA.  "Advanced" is LENT.  "Bean town?" is LIMA.  "Caesarian section?" is I CAME, which isn't exactly right; this pun should be reserved for the actual section of the quote, veni.  "Relatives of tails" is TUXEDOS.  "A bitter pull to swallow?" is ALE.  I thought "joint tenant?" might be tenon (which sits in a mortise) but it's INMATE.  "Ended a phone call?" is BUTT DIALED, ha!  "Sing about?" is RAT ON.

And now, my REPORT: This was a challenging but mostly fair puzzle, with a great deal of clever and vague clues.  I enjoyed it but wish I had done a bit better.  Well, TTYL.

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: August 18, 2018

My time: 15:12.

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Mark Diehl constructed this puzzle, which contains every letter of the alphabet at least once.  It's a very satisfying grid with lots of interesting fill (AQUI, LAY SIEGE TO, MUD FACIAL, ACT OF LOVE, STAMP PADS ["ink holders"], CITY PLAZA, et alii).

Right off the bat at one across I was held up by "certain fish... or sailboats," which is SKIPJACKS.  There's skipjack tuna, which is in the family Scombridae, and skipjack shad, which is in the herring family, Clupeidae.  A skipjack boat, on the other hand, is a sailboat used on the Chesapeake Bay for oyster dredging.

I didn't know Jon HAMM was in 2010's The Town.  He played an FBI agent.

"Makeshift fly swatter" is a good clue for SHOE.

I'm a Muppet fan from way back, but there are some tertiary characters I don't have on the tip of my tongue.  PEPE the King Prawn is one of them.  He was created for the later show, "Muppets Tonight."

The OCARINA is a primitive wind instrument known as a type of vessel flute --- that is, a flute with a vessel body and an extended mouthpiece.

For "hint of things to come," I confidently put *HARBINGER, but it's FORETASTE.

In the Bible, the Book of Samuel, ELI is a priest who assures Samuel's mother that she will bear a son, and goes on to help train Samuel.  He also has two wicked sons, whom he rebukes only lightly, for which his lineage is cursed.

We all know Jay LENO and his magical chin, but did we know he won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2014?  I didn't even know there was one.  Julia Louis-Dreyfus won this year!

Physicists use the Greek letters PSIS (Ψs) to denote wave function.  That is, a mathematical description of the quantum state of an isolated quantum system.  You're confused, I see.  Let me make it perfectly clear: The wave function is a complex-valued probability amplitude, and the probabilities for the possible results of measurements made on the system can be derived from it.

Not being a musical aficionado, I didn't know that the main female role in "Singin' in the Rain" is KATHY Selden, played by Debbie Reynolds.  Kathy is a showgirl who makes fun of the film star Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly), and he falls for her.  She dubs the singing voice for his co-star, Lina.

"In-pool fitness program" is AQUA ZUMBA!  Now that's just crazy.

I'm not 100% familiar with Mariah Carey's oeuvre, but apparently she had a #1 with "OH, SANTA" in 2010, from her second Christmas album, the amusingly titled Merry Christmas II You.

"Irked constantly" held be back quite a bit.  I read it as an adjective, as in someone who is irked constantly, but it's meant to be read as a verb, as in "irked [someone] constantly."  It's ATE AT.

I didn't know that the famous trees lining the National Mall in D.C. are ELMS.

I also had never heard of Operation Ali Baba, the airlifting of thousands of Jews to Israel in the 1950s, but it was pretty obvious that the airline involved had to be EL AL.  It is also called Operation Exra & Nehemia.

Derek Jeter's retired number is TWO.  Now that I know that, what do I do?

"My Kind of Town" lyricist Sammy CAHN appeared on June 24, 2018.

About a gigaton of clever clues this time around: "Hit with a charge" is TASE. "Story of past glories, maybe?" is ATTIC --- because it's the story of a house where maybe interesting items from the past are kept.  "Private leaders" is CORPORALS.  "Open investigation?" is DENTAL EXAM.  "Give an unexpected hand" is SLAP.  "Summer" is ADDER, ha ha.  "Exchanged some crosses" is BOXED.  "Top of Scotland" is TAM.

Woo!  This took quite a while.  I guess I MIST my chance to do well on this one!

Wednesday's New York Times puzzle solved: March 7, 2018

My time: 8:51, which is pretty good for me.

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In this puzzle, a whole team of contributors -- Natan Last, Andy Kravis, and the Jewish Association Serving the Aging Crossword Class -- focus on PARALLEL PARKING ("driving test challenge") by hiding two types of cars in the Across fill, one directly over the other.  In CLAUDIUS, an Audi lines up neatly with the Ford hidden in UP FOR DISCUSSION.  Next there's DOMINI, as in anno domini, hiding a Mini, which lines up with a foreign-made Opel hiding directly below in IT'S HOPELESS.   And CHRIS MARTIN, appropriately enough, drives a Smart car, parked parallel to the Honda in TV creator SHONDA Rhimes underneath.

Shinzō ABE is the 57th Prime Minister of Japan, serving in that capacity since 2012.

"Controversial food preservative" BHT is a derivative of phenol which is also used to prevent oxidization in fuel oil.  Wikipedia says, "The FDA classifies BHT as generally recognized as safe as a food preservative... There is, however, some debate surrounding a possible link between BHT and cancer risk, asthma, and behavioral issues in children."

The New Orleans Baby Cakes are an AAA (that is, the highest level of play in the minor league) baseball team and affiliate of the Miami Marlins.  Also, they have the silliest name and mascot ever.

Actress Melissa LEO won an Emmy for her role on "Louie" and an Oscar for her role in The Fighter.  She is also known for roles in "All My Children" and "Homicide."

A TENPENNY nail is one that is three inches in length.  I like that "nail" is also used as a clue in this puzzle for ACE and NAB.

I have never heard of, or don't remember, LUCRETIA Mott.  She was an abolitionist, feminist, Quaker, and social reformer who lived 1793-1880.

I had a lot of trouble with "refrain syllables" SHA LA LA.  I wanted, of course, to put *TRA LA LA, and that ate up a bit of time.  Similarly, I had *DUADS for "couples" when it's DYADS.

The COSINE is the measure of the angle on the adjacent side of a right angle.  Its reciprocal is the secant.  That is, one over the cosine is the secant.

"Trident-shaped letters" also puzzled me.  I was like, Ws?  It's PSIS, which is written as Ψ or ψ. 

The Carolina WREN is the state bird of South Carolina.

OTOE has appeared several times in puzzles I've done.  Here they're "early tribe met by Lewis and Clark."

Did you know George Gershwin's "Summertime" is an ARIA? According to Wikipedia, the term aria is "used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompaniment, normally part of a larger work."  So... a song?

Clever clues: "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" is ALIASES.  "Cozy places?" is TEAROOMS.  "Hit 100, say" is SPED (I thought it might be some sports stat). 

And that's it.  I'm on TRAC for doing better NEXT time.