"Hit the Deck," 1/29/17

It's 10:30 on Sunday morning and I've already eaten breakfast, fed the baby and put him down for a nap, and finished the crossword puzzle. Feeling very productive!

Time to finish/time I gave up: 28:51
[Will put back the entries about how badly I failed when applicable.]

Commentary:
I thought this puzzle was pretty fun--it's like a little card game played out right before my very eyes! Rex thought it was boring. For any consistent Rex readers: does he ever enjoy Sunday puzzles? This is my 11th post on this blog and I don't think he has unequivocally liked a single one yet. I will cut him some slack, though, because his post addresses his depression about the current political climate, with which I can sympathize.

If the puzzle timer included the amount of extra time it took me to understand 7A Strip of buttons TOOLBAR then this puzzle would have taken us 35 minutes or so.

I liked the timing of the two tennis clues with the Australian Open (10D One may get smashed LOB and 28A It's unreturnable SERVICEACE).

I said "bofa" (rhymes with "sofa") out loud before I got my brain to B of A (40D Citi rival, informally). Yikes. Maybe another coffee needed?

80D Container that may have a sharpener CRAYONBOX simultaneously made me nostalgic for crayons and frustrated by those stupid sharpeners. They just make a mess and the crayon is still never as pointy as it was when it was new.

I'm too young for this $h*t

• Dyan Cannon belongs in this category, but puzzle authors Jim Hyres and David Steinberg are really lucky that she was also on Ally McBeal, which was one of my favorite shows when I was growing up. (After all, it featured another Allie/y.)
• Jami Gertz (of 106D and "Twister") was actually also on Ally McBeal, but not enough for me to remember her name. I looked her up after the puzzle and recognized her face.

Really?

• I'm not thrilled about 30A Musicianship EAR. I just don't feel like they quite match up.
• 52A Celebratory request GIVEMEFIVE. Not only should this phrase be "Gimme five," as Rex rightly complains, I also don't think anybody actually asks people to give them five unless the giver is a child or a dog, aka someone who doesn't necessarily respond to the universal signal for giving five, which is simply holding one's hand in the air. But I'm just nitpicking. This wasn't that hard of a clue.
• On the other hand, COOLBEANS is something that, seriously, no one says. (58A "Great!")
• Does anyone consider "six degrees of separation" to be a party game? If you answered yes to this question, remind me not to come to your parties.
• Speaking of which: the typical subject of this "game" is Kevin Bacon, of course. I am a fan of the blog Young House Love, and I recently learned from their podcast that Sherry met Kevin Bacon once. I met Sherry at a book signing in DC a few years ago, so that brings my degree to 2, and all of yours to 3. Congrats!
• 94A "Damn right!" YES. Couldn't we at least get "yas" instead?
• 39D Total SUMTO. Ugh. This feels like an Excel command. Something from the TOOLBAR perhaps.

Things I learned today:

• Taft was our last mustachioed president. That is a great fun fact! Thanks, crossword!
• Cash is king, apparently? I have a mild aspiration to get an MBA someday, I'll update this post with more info at that time.
• A.J. Foyt is a driver of...those kart things they drive in the Indy 500. As we learned last week, auto racing isn't really my thing.
• Unless it's Mario Kart.
• Salvador Dali said the excellent quote, "I don't do drugs. I am drugs." It takes a real baller to say something like that.
• Eric Heiden is a speed skater. Ok then.
• People call marijuana "endo" these days. I'm out of the loop, I guess.
• Max Steiner is "the father of film music." As a film soundtrack fan, I will have to look him up!
• Akron is home to the Firestone Country Club. It's a good thing there aren't that many cities that go into "_K___" or I would have been out of luck on this one. Guess I gotta get over to Akron more. Haha just kidding, no thanks.

Times I got to use my French major this week

• Oeuvre. This is also an imported word in English but studying French makes it easier to spell. 
• See also Yves.
• In theory, 102A Countenances MIENS but I didn't get this one. As an English word or a French one.
• Fifi? Poodles are French right?
• Also technically "sans" serif I guess. I just used my life knowledge for that one though.

Times I got to use my Rosetta Stone free trial of introductory German this week

• Drei
• Grau
• I didn't actually know this one. The colors I know are weiss, schwartz, blau, and grun.
• Blau + grun = grau in letters but not colors.

Fritz out!