The theme in Allan Parrish's Monday NYT had me scratching my head for longer than it took to solve the puzzle. It just so happens I'd filled in the central across entry with just the down clues, so I hadn't seen the explanatory clue for RHYME. (D'oh.) A casualty of an extra-fast solve—I think this was my fastest Monday NYT ever. Did it seem easy to everyone else? This is completely off topic, but a few years ago the Chicago Tribune stopped carrying the comic strip, Rhymes with Orange, which is a shame because it had been one of my favorites. Click on the link for some dry, droll cartoons.

If you don't frequent the NYT Today's Puzzle forum, you will have missed Lee Glickstein's latest Topical Punch crossword. Lee started making these fun and timely puzzles a few months ago. The theme clues are the beginning of topical jokes (largely political) from late-night TV, and the entries are the punchlines. The puzzles are too good to be given away for free, so if you know of any outlet that would pay Lee for their use, send me an e-mail and I'll forward it to Lee.

Updated:

Somehow Randall Hartman's CrosSynergy puzzle took me longer than any of the other daily puzzles today. I didn't figure out the theme until I was finished—the theme entries in "Fight Prelims" begin with KNOCK, DOWN, DRAG, OUT. Kinda cute!

Curtis Yee's "One-Two Three" is a classic Monday NYS puzzle. Solid, fresh theme; fill with some Scrabbly letters; baseball facts and Hollywood names.

CS 3:56
NYS 3:26
LAT 3:03
NYT 2:43
Topical Punch 5:30