All right, three puzzles today. Rare day where I disliked both the LAT and NYT puzzles; usually, I like both or at least one over the other. But today, both were either boring (the NYT, with a shockingly blase themeless) or lackluster (the LAT, with a pretty lame theme and not great fill). BEQ's, on the other hand, was terrific. I know it may seem like BEQ almost always wins the day on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, but I think that speaks more for how mediocre the LAT and NYT have been recently than how great a constructor BEQ is. I've been solving for about a year and a half now, and the last couple of months have been the worst I can remember in terms of quality and memorable puzzles between both the NYT and the LAT. I truly miss the New York Sun, which tended to have absolutely brilliant and innovative puzzles on a consistent basis.
The NYT was a themeless by Manny Nosowsky, one of the great constructors who has something like 200 published puzzles, and which tend to be themeless, full of snappy fill and often clever cluing. Well, not this time. There was nothing glaringly bad in this, but certainly nothing memorable. The clues were extremely straightforward, and even when they tried to be clever, they fell flat (for example, the clue "People in control of their faculties?" for DONS. I mean, it's cute, but truly not up to Nosowsky cleverness standards). **, bordering on **1/2.
The LAT was quite lackluster today. It had a theme that could have potential, but that potential sure wasn't realized in this puzzle. The theme was adding the letters TER after common phrases to create new phrases. When by far the best theme answer you've got is LIT CRITTER for "Drunk-as-a-skunk skunk?" you know your theme isn't that great. The fill was also quite unmemorable. **.
The BEQ had another hysterical theme today. The theme was taking common phrases and rethinking them as names of incredibly lame superheroes. I'll save my favorite for my clue/answer of the day, but an example of this is GOSSIP GIRL for the clue "Superhero who can't keep her mouth shut?" Also, the fill was pretty good today, including "Exactly!" for SPOT ON. ****.
Winner: BEQ, by a country mile. Thank goodness for BEQ's puzzles in the doldrums of this summer.
Favorite clue: Have to go with themes today. Hands-down my favorite is from BEQ's. "Masked aveneger who's a total wuss?" for MAMA'S BOY. I laughed out loud at that one, and am still very much amused by it.
Worst clue: From the LAT comes "Reason to bring in a relief pitcher?" for FALLING STARTER. Falling?! Doesn't work. It would probably be decent if it was "failing" starter. I solved that one and immediately recoiled.
Note: I might solve Matt Gaffney's puzzle this week too, as it's apparently a kind of companion puzzle to BEQ's puzzle, at least as far as one theme entry goes. I actually LOVE Matt Gaffney's puzzles in general, but his free weekly contest puzzles tend to be INSANELY hard, at least for me. The puzzles have a hidden puzzle within them, and they tend to be brilliant and innovative, but again, it's usually too much work for me. We'll see.
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