Tuesday

The dependable Gary Steinmehl has provided another good Sun puzzle. From my perspective, the best sort of Biblical theme is one that requires familiarity with video game systems and pop singers rather than the Bible itself. I found a lot of the fill colorful—BILGE, BOSOM and BOSOX and THE A'S, DMITRI and GREEN TEAS. "Eye opener" was a great clue for IRIS, and "makeup of packed powder" put me in mind of ESTEE's compact rather than SNOW.

Do you suppose FLOP SWEAT was also on Gail Grabowski's list of potential DUD theme entries in the LAT? Given my themeless bias, I'd have preferred to see LEMON DROP and BOMB SQUAD show up as lively non-theme fill, but I'll take them here. Then there's "cream-filled cookie" for OREO. We see OREO all the time, we've seen umpteen variations of clues describing it, and we've even seen clues detailing its history—but who can explain the origin of the cookie's name? Anyone?

I do have to agree with Harriet Clifton's NYT: HERE'S THE REMOTE are three of the sweetest words in the English language.

NYS 4:00
CS 3:27
NYT 3:08
LAT 3:06