(I've decided to do spoilers on the crossword themes in these posts if I think the theme warrants discussion. It's getting frustrating running around the themes without really discussing them properly.)
All right, my first Sunday crossword roundup! I usually just do the NYT/syndicated LAT puzzle on Sunday, but occasionally I will also do the exclusive LAT puzzle. It used to be done by Sylvia Burstzyn, who is my least favorite constructor, but she has been on a long hiatus, and instead, one of my favorite constructors, Merl Reagle, took her place. I didn't get to his puzzle today, but I likely will next week.
I have to be honest, I don't typically enjoy Sundays only because of how long it takes to do the over sized puzzles. When a Sunday puzzle is mediocre, it can really really feel like a slog, since it usually takes me at least 15 to 20 minutes to polish off a Sunday. Fortunately, today had good quality puzzles throughout.
The NYT's theme was kind of unbelievable; it was a rebus puzzle (multiple letters in one square) that had Greek letters as its rebus squares. The difficulty of this was that the Greek letters were paired together in triplets that represented frats. So if you don't know Greek letters or couldn't get the answers that intersected the Greek letters, you were effectively screwed at getting some of the answers. Needless to say, I know Greek letters and was able to get all of the theme entries, so I had a great time. One of my favorite Sundays in a while. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, considering it was Patrick Berry, probably the greatest constructor working today in terms of consistency, high quality, and innovation. ****1/2.
The LAT was...OK. It was an "add a letter to a normal phrase to create a new, goofy phrase" theme, which are almost always hit and miss. This one was adding a Y to phrases to create new phrases. The best one by far was GOOD COPY BAD COPY, which really is great. But there were really iffy ones, like OPEN PITY MINING, and one that didn't follow the rules, which was AY THERE'S THE RUBY. Apparently, that first Y wasn't supposed to be specially added, since A by itself doesn't mean anything. There are no other arbitrary Y's in the rest of the theme entries. This is the kind of thing that irks me to no end, and something that the aforementioned Burstzyn used to do ALL the time. ***.
Favorite clue: Today, there were really no notable clues in either puzzle, so I'm going to go with theme answers. The NYT had some truly inspired theme answers. Remember, there were Greek letters embedded in all of these words or phrases. My absolute favorite is DEL TAco, which is truly inspired. But there was also amPHIbian, aiR HOse, and my second favorite, on THE TAke. Man.
Least favorite clue: The aforementioned AY THERE'S THE RUBY, for not following the theme rules. That may be my biggest pet peeve of all in crosswords. A crossword I will never forget was a Burstzyn that had a nautical theme. I don't clearly remember the rules of the theme, but I do remember that the answers were both really bad AND didn't follow the rule about a third of the time. I actually got really angry doing that puzzle.
Winner: The NYT, by a mile. Really inventive puzzle, with some unbelievable construction, and some truly brilliant theme entries.
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