Crosswords of the Day, 8/5/2009

Wednesdays are always tiring, as I typically do FOUR crosswords. Today's crosswords ranged from meh to very good.

The NYT was by far the weakest to me, with an odd, dated theme and some really strange fill. I have to give them credit for having, in the same puzzle AND in the NYT no less, BENNIFER, EROTICA, and HOTTIE. **.

The LAT was better; the theme was a cute MONKEY related one, and the fill was totally pleasant throughout. Not a very memorable puzzle, but a fun one. ***.

BEQ's puzzle had a terrific theme today. It was taking authors with last names that also double as adjectives/verbs/nouns and pairs them with famous novels that they should have written based on their last names. So we get the clue ...Death of a Salesman? for STEPHEN HAWKING. They were all very cute, but the one that made me laugh out loud, and instantly made this one brilliant but unpublishable, was The Joy of Sex? for E. E. CUMMINGS. Unfortuntately, the fill surrounding the themes wasn't that great in this one, so I have to give this ****, even though this is a clear ***** theme for me.

The Onion was also really clever today. It revolved around GUITAR HERO, and specifically how one can easily slip a button over where they are supposed to press to play the correct note. Therefore, it took phrases with a color in their names that is also one of the colors on the Guitar Hero guitar, and changed the color in the phrase to reflect someone messing up. For example, Greensleeves becomes REDSLEEVES. Believe me, it was more enjoyable to solve than it was to read that explanation. ***1/2.

Winner: BEQ. Best theme of the week so far, and it made me laugh out loud, which is rare.

Best clue: The Onion had some really great clues today, like "Magic partner?" for KAREEM and "Whence Heart-Shaped Box and Pennyroyal Tea?" for IN UTERO. However, I have to point out another clue I heard today as well. One of the answers in the NYT today was GHOST WRITER; the clue for it was pretty lackluster. One of the frequent commenters on the blogs, and a prolific constructor himself, Joon Pahk, pointed out a clue he once saw for GHOST WRITER from Patrick Berry that he loved that I'd never seen. It was "One that takes cash but not credit?" Sheer brilliance. That easily goes into my favorite clues of all time.

Worst clue: Gotta be honest here. There wasn't anything that stood out to me as particularly bad today, although "Out of order, in a way" for SWAPPED doesn't seem quite right.