Crossword 30:05

Decent puzzle. A half hour is maybe a little easy for the Goldilocks zone. It might have been easier if I'd picked up the full theme. The first word of each theme answer had an extra letter, turning regular phrases into wacky ones. What I didn't notice, since I finished them out of order, was that it was one word, getting longer one letter at a time: IN-SIN-SING-STING-STRING-STARING-STARTING-STARTLING.

Oh my god, I just realized further interconnectedness!

The first theme answer is "In thought as much," with the N extra. The second is "Sin some small way," with the S. The next is "Sing of omission." But look - The IN of the first actually goes with the second phrase, as SIN goes with the third. This holds through all the theme answers, and isn't forced at all. OK, upgrading to great puzzle. In theory, studying the theme as it unfolded would have made the theme answers even easier, and if I had seen that, I might have gone so fast, I'd be annoyed. But it's very cool to realize in retrospect.