Lazy Sunday

Joe DiPietro's byline has been popping up a lot lately, and now Joe brings us another Sunday NYT, "What's the Story?" I loved LITTLE-READ WRITING HOOD. BOOTY ON THE BEAST would have been more fun to clue than BOOTEE IN THE BEAST, but the latter did allow AS IF I CARE ("like that matters") to cross three theme entries. There's even a short theme entry in the middle (KNOW WHITE), crossing three other theme entries—and there are five more 9-letter entries that each join three theme entries. Theme-rich (135 squares, if I counted right) and intricately constructed...you could do worse.

Henry Hook's LA Weekly puzzle, "The In Crowd," threw two unfamiliar words at me. I can't say I've ever seen YOK before (clued as "hearty laugh," which makes me think of YUKs, not a YOK). And then there's DEASIL, meaning "clockwise" (pronounced like "diesel"). It's one of the rare English words that comes from Scottish Gaelic, and apparently it has Wicca connotations.

Paula Gamache and Vic Fleming's Washington Post puzzle, "Wisecracks," cracks Y's into the theme entries.

Hey! Who stole the Sunday Challenge again? CrosSynergy team, we crave your themeless creations! (And make 'em hard, please.) You've got six days a week for themed puzzles, and you've gotten us hooked on having one small themeless on Sundays. Two themed Sundays in a month? You're making the natives restless.

NYT 10:45
LAW 10:05
LAT 9:35
WaPo 8:02
CS 3:41