Wednesday

It took me a few minutes to figure out what was going on in David Kahn's Sun puzzle, "The Difference Between Men and Women"—normal phrases with a WO inserted. (I don't know which I like best, SPECIAL WOK or the bizarre STANDING WOPAT.) I also got derailed by by two words crossing the theme entries in the middle, 1944 Physics Nobelist Isidor RABI and LONG A (clued as “Take part?”).

And what's this? A Byron Walden NYT on a Wednesday? A straightforward math theme, with LINES, CURVE, and POINT—but before I figured out it was a math theme, I filled in AHEAD OF ONES TIME for the middle entry. (Oops.) I liked "No ordinary joe?" as a clue for MOCHA LATTE, and CUE UP as a new entry ("Man, I haven't shot pool in ages," complains Dick Cheney.) Cute mini-theme lurking in there, too, with LADIES MAN and BARE ROMPS.

NYS 6:28
LAT 4:25
NYT 4:03
CS 3:32
Newsday 3:01 (on paper)