Sorry for how late this is. I'm a bit sick, and ended up napping for four hours today! So my whole normal rhythm is totally off. But I did do the puzzles, and here we go.
The NYT had something that is relatively rare; a lackluster theme but some excellent fill surrounding it. The theme was bizarre; it took the phrase HYBRID VEHICLES and used it to inspire strange phrases like SUBURBAN MALIBU. This really didn't work at all, and it was an odd solving experience in general. But there was some great cluing and fill in this, which I'll mention later. ***, but bordering on **1/2.
The LAT was a really excellent puzzle. It was inspired by the fact that it's the 70th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz opening today. The theme answers had the following opening words: OVER, THE, and RAINBOW, and the unifying theme answer was DOROTHY GALE. Huge credit for the theme answer RAINBOW BRITE, which was just great. The reason this puzzle was so great is hard to describe here, but the whole thing just felt incredibly smooth and fun to do, with absolutely no bad fill. **** easily, and really closer to ****1/2.
Winner: The LAT. One of the smoothest and most fun puzzles I've solved in a while.
Best clue: For some reason, I love this clue from the NYT. "What it takes not to say 'You've put on a little weight'" for TACT. It's just a perfect clue, and kind of funny to boot.
Worst clue: Pretty much any of the NYT theme entries would apply here. Maybe my least favorite is the clue "Start of a stampede (think Ford)" for MUSTANG ESCAPE. See why this was annoying to solve?
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