Jennifer

@Dan It's also a pretty common NYT answer, spelled just this way. One of those things to add to the mental database.

@Hitch Are there no crossword puzzle publishers in South Africa?

@Julia Lots of vowels!

@Ian Livengood Will Pips be getting an archive? Always feel sad when I miss a day.

@Steve L So much knowledge gained from Warner Brothers cartoons. That's how I first encountered the name Albuquerque. And then there's opera.

@Dave Call AAA & get a tow for your car!

@Lewis Totally agree about junk-scarce. Not a single OH I SEE or I HOPE NOT. I hope this is a trend. I also really wanted PUNSTERS to somehow be a word for crossword puzzle creators.

@Jane Wheelaghan Re: YEA (no H). Think vote in a legislature/parliament.

@Jack McCullough The NW corner was unyielding, even with early fills of ECZEMA and PANZA, until I rethought the meaning of "characters." Once I figured that out, the whole thing fell into place.

@LBG Was thinking that as well! Old crossword standby.

@Dan "Take a swing at." Maybe an Americanism?

@Jane Wheelaghan Haven't seen the movie, but I assume the setting for Emperor's New Groove was moved to South America.

@Matt I also began doing NYT crosswords in the early 80s, in college. The talking inanimate objects thing is definitely a fairly recent invention. I'm also not a fan since it feels a little childish. Still, if you go back to those 80s era puzzles, and even early Will Shortz (1993+), there's not a ton of wordplay, and definitions could be pretty stodgy and repetitive. So I'll take the talking-inanimate-object device if it helps with more lively and varied cluing.

@Mean Old Lady I agree with your general assessment of this puzzle, but I read the FRIED EGGS clue as it was probably intended. I.e., "well" modifies "going over" rather than the resulting condition of the eggs. Well done eggs are just gross.

@Jane Wheelaghan In US dorms sharing a room is still common. Most universities don't have enough dorm space to accommodate the incoming freshmen class in single rooms. Oddly, in her freshman year, my daughter requested a double because she was worried about making friends. The university didn't have enough doubles to accommodate everyone who wanted them, so she was "forced" into a single. She loved it, and she had no trouble making friends.

@Laura I finally had to relent and look up Hunger Games and the last name of the basketball player. The Hunger Games actress was pretty far down the cast list. Even for a Saturday, pretty obscure clue.

@Brian Bragg I knew Max Baer from his son "Jethro." Also, my father, who was born in 1932, loved boxing, so I heard about the boxing Baer from him. Also heard about Jake LaMotta and Sugar Ray Robinson before Raging Bull came out. I miss my sports-loving dad.

@Steve L The thing I love about ENO, ONO, OREO, SSN, and the like is the endless variety of clues that are attached to these workhorses. They're often still gimmes, but I'm impressed by the dedicated effort to not repeat clues.

@Pudly Didn't get that as well, at first. Spring refers the source of water you'd find at an oasis. I think that's it.

@Gregg I had no idea of the shirtmaker, but ETON is a crossword puzzle standard. There are many ways to clue it. This is the first I've seen of the shirtmaker.

@Bob Had the same thought!

@Vaer Great movie. Just watched it a month ago. Was pleased to see the clue last week.

@Jennifer I need to amend my snark by noting how impressed I am by all of the non-American solvers who work on these puzzles, Hitch included. In my younger days, I was thoroughly humbled by my attempts at British crosswords. Galaxy brain stuff.

@Jordan I thought this was an excellent Saturday. The few things I didn't know (PANDA, STYLETS) I could reason out. SANKA is a gimme for anyone over 50 (40?). At one time it was the generic word for decaf. SUN RA is a bit more niche, but not obscure, at least if you're over 40 or so. Think of it as the Boomer/GenX toll for current rap and pop trivia (which I don't begrudge).

@Barry Ancona I take back the complain-y tone of the initial post, since it doesn't reflect how I interact with this column. Was just making an observation about the photo caption, which was more explicit than usual. The photos usually subtly hint at a clue.

@Jeff Z They've definitely been easier for the past several weeks (months?). My solve times for the harder days are generally half of what they used to be. (Today's puzzle not so much, but still not too challenging for a Friday. Had a few mistakes that were slowing me down.) I think the proliferation of commonplace phrases as answers, like 17- and 60-Across, is one of the causes.

@CnJ YES!

@Bruce And the clue for NEOBOP doesn't refer to Miles Davis or pioneers, but rather to a subgenre for Wynton Marsalis.

@Bruce Oops. I see the Miles Davis reference was in the Wordplay column.

@Dan That was great!

@Matt This is terrific, and very generous to our non-US solvers. (I'm more in the whaddya expect camp.) Regarding 62A, since the answer just generally describes a physical aspect of a race track, I would put this in the general info category, assuming the Triple Crown, and to a lesser extent Belmont, is well known outside the US.

@Barry Ancona At the point I looked up EMEKA, I had only BARE ESSENTIALS for the first 4 acrosses, plus a few downs. The rest of the puzzle was done. I probably could have gutted it out without looking up the Hunger Games cast, but time wasn't on my side.

@Bruce For clues like this, I do word association. For beaver my first thought (because I am not 14) is OREGON. So that was fairly easy.

@Bill Yeah, I'm familiar with the photo spoilers, which are often clever and interesting. The caption is just so explicit in giving the answer to a clue. Didn't spoil it for me because I had finished the puzzle. My comment was more about the hamfisted caption.

@jb Same.

@Alex Good lord!

@GG That is a lifelong earworm for me!

@Steve L You stated it here better than I did. I think it is inferable, but you would need at least an inkling that Triple Crown/Belmont refers to a racetrack. Like you, I started with it likely being a superlative, and widest is the only thing I could think of that fits. This was a gimme for me, as my family followed horse racing in the 70s/80s.