That’s three sub-3-minute Saturdays in a row. Los Angeles Times 1/22/22 by Billy Bratton
SUN HELMETS/ ANYONE ELSE/ FIELD TRIAL and FRUIT TARTS/ FINGER ROLL/ TAKES A KNEE. Northeast and southwest have triple-stacked tens and-along with the grid-spanner in the center row-they comprise the marquee elements of the grid.Had the –ME– in place early on, so I was confident it would be plural HELMETS, but PITH frustratingly would not fit. This is in my opinion exactly how a Stumper should play out.
And once again, it cracked here and there, incrementally revealing itself until it was all done but for a final two crossings of 25d AMNIO, and soon enough that fell too. Once again, when I was about halfway through the solve, I wondered if I’d be able to finish it at all, let alone in a reasonable time. (apologies for the stray artifact at the right upper border of the grid) Stella Zawistowski’s Newsday crossword: Saturday Stumper - pannonica’s write-up I tend to refer only to spirits-so-called hard liquor- as ‘booze’, but perhaps that’s idiosynctratic. Dreyer’s La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1928), a personal favorite. Regarding the film itself: from what I’ve seen I’m reminded of Carl Th. Anyone seen the Joel Coen-directed Macbeth? It’s gotten mostly good reviews, but I tried to watch it and was stymied by Apple’s layered inanity and that’s all I’m going to say about that.
I certainly can appreciate the appeal, though. This is like crossword royalty or something.
Oh! There’s also EYESHADOW and HAPHAZARD closer to the edges (13d, 83d)