Brian: Friday, April 24
I have a cold. And I have a crapload of music to learn. I should be practicing. Or sleeping. Or something.
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New York Times – 24:04
New York Times
constructed by Mike Nothnagel; edited by Will Shortz
Twenty-four minutes? Not really, I guess… Since there’s no figuring out trivia that I simply don’t know, 
I did as much of the fill as I could, and turned to the internet for help. I got most of the middle on my own, helped by a big down clue in 21D. Fictional secret agent (MAXWELL SMART). It helps that I have the latest Entertainment Weekly in my bathroom. Steve Carell can do no wrong, as far as I can see. I will try to see this movie on opening day.
Baseball clues didn’t trick me today, as I got Sammy SOSA and the mysteriously masked UMPIRE. And although I’ve never seen a single episode, my mind decided that Adrian ZMED was in T.J. Hooker, and my mind was right this time. The middle of the grid came quickly, with The LORAX, GO AWOL, ELAPSE (although I had ESCAPE here for a while), BOMBS, SOLVE, and eventually, the double-entry at 30A and 36A. Shortsighted (PENNY WISE AND POUND FOOLISH), although I still don’t know if I know what it means. I needed the internet’s help for 7D. Long-running Art and Chip Sansom comic strip (THE BORN LOSER), and now that I’ve read a half dozen strips, I’m not sorry I never heard of it.
I needed help in the lower left, with a bunch of things I had never heard of: ETTA Hulme (singer James is too easy?), AERATE, TREXES and the coinciding down with PAX. I guessed correctly on CAROM, but I’m not clear how that’s a “clever” answer for Two strikes? (the question mark clue implies something fun here, but I don’t see it).
