Patrick Berry is just showing off. Almost all of his 109 Shortz-era puzzle are late week. He doesn't care about hitting for the cycle (no Mondays or Tuesdays.) Despite the pyrotechnics he doesn't care about pangrams (no F, J, Q or W today.) He seems content to just amaze us with skill and flair.
Today's Friday the 13th puzzle (answer) is about as professional as a crossword can be. It's doable in a way that makes you feel proud to have solved it. I especially admired "they have people eating in a lot" for TAILGATE PARTIES. Yes, lot is a noun.
"Neuter pronoun" was deceptive. Clearly it's a foreign language indicator. Nope, it's good old English, even though we don't have masculine and feminine nouns. That reminds me of a Mark Twain quip. "In German, a young lady has no sex, while a turnip does." Das Mädchen is neuter while die Rübe is feminine.
RISE as an answer for "early career trajectory" sounds so negative, doesn't it? Surely your career and mine are still arcing upwards. "Series of violent episodes" turned out to be CSI. Don't get it? It's the name of a TV program. The "big three" at the 1945 YALTA conference were Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin.
The photo is Marlon Brando as Colonel KURTZ in Apocalypse Now, the film loosely based on Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. If you admire that film, be sure to check out Eleanor Coppola's making-of documentary Hearts of Darkness which many believe is an even greater cinematic accomplishment.
What's your favorite clue of the last month, or the month before that? Crosswordese.com has the Clever Clue of the Month going back to December, 2004 as voted on by, well, people like you. Remember "Snow boarders"? It's SEVEN DWARFS. "Shot for the stars" is BOTOX. "Place that British women can't stand going?" That's one's too good to just give away. Think about it and then check the link.
