Once again, it is Tuesday. Not yet Saturday, nor Friday, nor even Thursday.

I had gotten in the habit of being one of the top few finishers (not counting cheaters) for each day's NYT puzzle. Just as Tyler (Hello? 1:29 or 1:27 or something for the Monday NYT? Whoo!) has been taking himself to task for mucking up weekend puzzles lately, I must chide myself for mucking up easy early-week puzzles, over and over. Last night, it was plugging in ETONIAN for OXONIAN that did me in. Yes, I know Eton isn't a college. Yes, I too am not aware of any movie dog named TOTE. And yes, APET is not APEX. Whatever. It's been a long summer, folks, and my boy doesn't start school until next Tuesday. More to the point, though, Leonard Williams' puzzle is one of those classic good Tuesday NYTs with a clever theme.

The NYS by Robert Ward, "Just Say Noh," was cute. I liked te teme a lot.

In Martin Ashwood-Smith's CS puzzle, "Trifles," the grid was salted liberally with the letter Z (five appearances). I'm a sucker for the letter Z, as it was my last initial before I got married.

NYT 4:49
NYS 4:16
LAT 3:46
CS 2:54