Thurebusday

Both Patrick Merrell's NYT and Lynn Lempel's NYS are peppered symmetrically with rebus squares.

Patrick's opted for a little S&M with his ampersand theme. It had a bit of a Friday vibe to it around the perimeter. Those bricks of 9-letter words, the tough clues? HAD AN AIR? HIGHBRED? UNNATURAL clued as "studied"? They seemed Fridayish to me. The rebus portion, though? Thursday all the way. I do have one question: if HUMID is "one of the three H's" and hot is another, what's the third H?

In Lynn Lempel's puzzle, the monthly rebus entries were supplemented with a bonus title in the grid's center. I do want to know whether it was Lynn or Peter Gordon who came up with the "smelly toilet water" clue for EAU(DEC)OLOGNE...

NYT 5:45
NYS 4:44
CS 3:44
LAT 3:42