Monday

As often happens with a Monday puzzle, I missed out on a lot of clues and entries because after I filled in a section with one direction of clues, I moved on. Looking back over the puzzle, I see some perky stuff I'd missed, like, oh, the Rock, Paper, Scissors theme, and "It may have screwdrivers on it" for BAR TAB. I also appreciated the OUR/TOWN and CAPE/COD pairs, "grapevine contents" for GOSSIP, and "'Potpourri' for a thousand, ALEX."

Updated:

Rich Norris's CrosSynergy puzzle has the kind of theme that keeps you guessing until you reach the explanatory 6-letter entry (which is mentioned in the title, but I often don't read the title before I start solving) that ties them together. The theme entries include two 8s, two 9s, and a 13, and the clues don't hint at the theme. Jangler, why don't you do this one (accessible via Puzzle Pointers) and tell us what you think? I've read your objections to overused themes, and perhaps you'll agree with me that Rich's theme has an elegance to it.

CS 3:42
NYS 3:35
NYT 2:55
LAT 2:51