NYT Crossword 09/01/17 (Fri.)

Cruciverbalist: Patrick Berry
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 16:20

Puzzle uniqueness: 0

Words I hadn't known until now: 

KENKEN - "Math puzzle" (Though deep in the back of my mind, something tells me that this has appeared before and I just don't remember)

Trivia I didn't know:

METHANOL - "What the earliest cars used as antifreeze"
PAXROMANA - "Period ushered in by Augustus"
HELEN - "Clytemnestra's half sister"
OBELISK - "Object at the center of St. Peter's Square"
GEORGEWILL - "Newspaper columnist who wrote the book 'Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball'"
CASPIANSEA - "What the ancient Greeks called the Hyrcanian Ocean"
CEBU - "Pacific island Magellan visited in 1521"
TRINI - "Certain Caribbean islander, informally"
CREOLE - "Like etoufee"

Junk Answers:

CEBU - (See above)
TWA - "Howard Hughes acquisition of 1939"
AMC - "Cable channel for cinephiles"
NAT - "Player in Washington, familiarly"

Clever clues:

ASPENS - "Ones trembling not out of fear"
SMORGASBORD - "Choice meal?"
LAYAWAYPLAN - "The seller takes no interest in it"

Obscure (i.e., really reaching) words:

METHANOL - (See above)
CEBU - (See above)
KENKEN - (See above)