Particularly juicy Monday

I started out the day last night, with Kendall Twigg's NYT. If you ask me, it's a perfect example of what a Monday NYT should be. Though Ken is in 80s, he's hip enough to throw us a little BOOGIE.

Harvey Estes has some funny stuff in his CrosSynergy puzzle, "Whatsa Matter?" My favorite theme entry is MENSAWEAR ("Smart clothing?") and my favorite fill is SKITTISH. I looked over the puzzle after I was done and discovered two great clues I hadn't seen while solving: "Correct but unlikely answer to 'Who's there?'" for ITISI, and "Waiting room cry after 'Next!'" for ATLAST.

What do you know? Brendan Emmett Quigley knows how to make easy Monday puzzles (see today's NYS). Of course, he includes rarely seen entries like HOPIINDIANS, HALFTONE, FLOODLIT, and CLAIMJUMPER. Not to mention the quartet of BOOZE, DOPE (clued innocuously), BBQ, and TOGAS, plus "QUEER Eye for the Straight Guy" combined with HOMO. Throw in LOU Dobbs and EVAN Bayh, and hell, the whole grid's a fabulous party!

LAT 3:27
CS 3:09
NYS 3:05