Sta4nce for instance / SAT 6-5-21 / Opening of a toaster / Explosive cited in Hamlet / Brand of cashmere pronounced say / Basketball game in an arcade / Third-tier cast member in Brave New World / 8'2" children's character /

Yes, today, truly I was ... saved by the bell. Or saved by the "Saved by the Bell" clue, anyway. Always super proud to put my teen shlock knowledge to use. Wasn't sure if he was a ZACH or a ZACK, but that's what crosses are for. In the NW, only POP-A-SHOT gave me any trouble (never heard of it, thought it was maybe POT-A-SHOT, since that at least rhymes), but all the crosses were easy (even the Latin-for-eggs OVA clue (2D: Ingredients in Caesar's salads?)). After I polished off the N/NW and then threw BLACK SABBATH across the grid, I was starting to regret not having the timer on, but also remained very, very wary of some difficulty-horror lurking around the next bend.

Off of BLACK SABBATH, I threw down all three long Downs, in order, without hesitation: A LA MODE, BIG BIRD, BEER NUT (just one!?)! Do you know how rare it is for me to just go 1-2-3 on a string of 7s (!!) with that little information? The Power Of The First Letter was really in effect there (though I think I could've got all those answers with no crosses at all ... maybe would've needed a boost for BEER NUT). So now I'm half done and have encountered no resistance. PIPPA / PREGGO gets me the whole NE pretty quickly. Got the Steinbeck novella "THE PEARL" off the THE, so SW went down pretty quickly too (Love the SACBEE down there—both 'cause it's original and 'cause I grew up in the San Joaquin Valley, just south of Sacramento, where our paper was also a Bee) (47A: NorCal daily). Finally I came to the S/SE and there, waiting for me, was the scary-monster part of the grid I had been anticipating all along, only ultimately it wasn't that scary. 

The trouble started with UPPED THE GAME (44A: Took things to a whole new level), which I had as UPPED THE ANTE, as that is a real phrase. You can up your game, one can up one's game, but UPPED THE GAME feels real weird in my mouth. One other (smaller) issue was TSE, which ... wow, yeah, tough one if you are not a fabric aficionado (37A: Brand of cashmere pronounced "say"). Didn't know cashmere had "brands." Anyway, TSE, which is quintessential crosswordese, was very well hidden there. But the real stumbling block in the bottom right was a trick that completely fooled me. Didn't see through it until practically the last square. And that trick was: 46D: Opening of a toaster ("HERE'S"). I had that thing down to HERE- and was squinting at it. Realized the cross was LOSE A DAY, which left me with HERES, which, I thought, "WTF, is that Latin??" and then bam. The aha. I had stubbornly been sticking with the pop-up toaster, the turn-bread-into-toast toaster that sits on kitchen counters. The idea that a toaster might be someone making a toast never entered my head. Humiliating. But fair. And then I was done.

One of the best parts of today's puzzle was finally seeing RHEA clued as the best actor on the best show on television (40A: Actress Seehorn of "Better Call Saul"). The way you know that the Emmys are a garbage awards org. is that RHEA Seehorn should have five of them by now, and she Hasn't Even Been Nominated. Every time I think of this fact, I literally shake my head. Anyway, I love her and I love that show (which is even better than the show it spun off from, "Breaking Bad"), and I'm going to be super-excited when the show returns next year and then equally super-bummed out when that season is over because it's the last one. But for now, excited for it to come back, and especially excited to see RHEA Seehorn in my crossword. See you tomorrow.