Kevin

Nice Natick with IDINA crossing KIMBAP. Oh the possibilities between proper names and foreign words are amazingly endless.

I, too, have never seen a pickle in anything other than a jar (excepting perhaps individually in a plastic bag at the gas station). Google informs me that there are indeed pickles available in metal cans. But the process of putting those cucumbers into glass jars, Mason or other brands, is referred to as canning. So I have no complaint with that clue.

Themers were fine. Six-way Naticks were not. Too cute by half. Pretty much hated it.

Double pangram made this too cute by half. Naticks abound. Wine seller ... English words, sure. Is it really a thing? Plus isn't "Cab" an abbreviation? Pretty sure "loll" isn't an abbreviation but "veg" is. Clueing conventions out the window. Did I already mention multiple obscure names that defy linguistic norms? No. It's like they were the product of a google search that then became the clue. What can I use to get some Q's and K's? How about some Greenlandic proper nouns. Really not a fan. This almost felt mean-spirited.

Ah yes. I immediately knew KIWI for Chinese Gooseberry. It's filed away with other culinary marketing rebranding examples, such as Chilean Sea Bass (Patagonian Toothfish) and canola oil (rapeseed oil). Great puzzle. Now off to do some self help yard work.

Really loved [Crude cavity]. For the emus, it's not emu, it's palindromic em-me

Methinks the clue for 50A should have ended with a [1]. Hung up briefly on BUCK/BOAT vs STAG/SHIP.

I spent this whole puzzle in déjà vu thinking where did I just see that... GHENT, STENT, and TRENT EPEE, EDIE, IDED, and IDIG ASTER and ESTER ARARAT on top of STRAT PITBOSS and PITAS sharing the P, just up from KEEPITDOWN ONIT, FIXIT, ILLALLOWIT AOL, OLA, ALOE, and ANON FIDE and FIE Initialisms were cute, but were hit or miss. HOT, GOT, BOB, and KID yes. THE marginal. SOAP not so much. Was fast ... up until flyspecking BRIAR / BRIER that oh so Naticky crossed a Portuguese wine.

As others have mentioned, I was hung up on TILSIT crossing MITES. Apparently there are 1,800 to 2,000 distinct cheeses in the world. I don't know them all. At least not yet. In other news, Natick was in the NYT this week in the "Couple Stalked by eBay Settle for $56M" article on July 28.

12 seconds over my Tuesday average, but uh yeah... what's a phone book?

Not my favorite. Pig Latin only at the ending for JUMBOTRON and EXTRA BOLD didn't result in an "a-ha, that's clever, I appreciate the wordplay" moment. But rather just an "oh." Pig Latin internal to another clue. Too cute by half. Taus vs chis for Latin crosses... M [E/I] NORCA crossing S [E/I] R. Apparently I'd been watching too much Game of Thrones to have gone initially with SER. And a few other Naticks along the way led to lots of flyspecking on this one.

Thrilled to see [CHAMPSATTHEBIT] in the puzzle . My father grilled it into me at a young age long before the internet. He liked to point out incorrect grammar. "Me" vs "I" was another of his bugaboos. That made listening to songs on the single in-dash speaker AM/FM radio on car rides an adventure. That and no air conditioning. He did point out that one should keep such knowledge to oneself lest one be thought a pompous jerk. The incorrect use of travesty is probably my own bugaboo. I don't recall seeing it in a puzzle of late.

I was this many years old when I first heard about a STEEL TIP boot. Still not sure that's actually a thing. Enjoyed this puzzle, and I choose to believe the mouthful of SEA WATER is a result of a waterski wipeout

CYPRESSHILL has the same letter count as HOUSEOFPAIN. Ask me how I know. But ch isn't much of a synonym for jump.

SIG as a fraternity brother seems to be a stretch (have only heard of SIG plus something else ... TAU or EP both come to mind). But it's a more acceptable clue than anything to do with SAUER.

BADGE yesterday... BADGE today... will there be a BADGE tomorrow? Do the emus have badges?

Pretty sure it's an I through an O ... not an I over an O. But that didn't preclude me from already having sussed out the theme or made PHI entries. Filled in 83D as P[I/O]SH, so I little disappointed when it was a singular PISH.

Still trying to figure out how "Is immersed" leads to [SOAKS]? I can fathom "Immerses" ... otherwise I'm asea or at sea (depending on whether you need four or five letters to fill)...

"Brava!" to Kate for the puzzle. But not a fan of the cluing of "Well done!" for [BRAVA] given that's Italian. And here where we speak English, "bravo" is the norm regardless of gender or number. I'll just file it away now that cluing could be for a word ending in A, E, I, or O (but not U or Y). Maybe Friday puzzles don't need foreign language markers? Bravi to all of those that knew.

I'm straight up on team spark plug quibble. Spark plug. It's a device for making the engine go integral to continued operation. "Starting" is a discrete, one time event where the engine goes from off to on (from not started to running). Any semantic gymnastics to explain it away either displays a fundamental lack of understanding as to how it works and what it does..or is disingenuous. Don't get me wrong. I thought this puzzle was great. Just that particular cluing was sloppy. I believe clues should come with an "a-ha" understanding (pun or play on words) or something that is factual (and perhaps obscure) and maybe you learn something. What a spark plug does and how it works is not technical arcana.