Tuesday is Blindauer Spaghetti Day

Patrick Blindauer garners the lion's share of attention for the day by having his byline in both the NYT and the Sun ("Throw in the Towel"). In the NYT, the theme is palindromes, and Patrick doesn't duplicate any of the theme entries in Merl Reagle's recent palindrome-palooza. All right, who else thought "Gives a hand?" was CLAPS before you entered SLAPS? Plenty of good 6-, 7-, and 8-letter fill, too (SWAHILI, PET NAME, etc.).

In Patrick's Sun puzzle, he plunks a RAG into four phrases, yielding things like FRAGILE CABINET and THE DAPPER DRAGON. Favorite clues: "Fit to serve?" for EDIBLE, and "Experts in pop psychology?" for MOMS. I think I like this theme better than the one in the NYT, but there's juicier fill in the NYT puzzle. Thanks for the double-dip, Patrick—I do enjoy your work.

Updated:

Best clue in this week's Ben Tausig puzzle: "John, to Paul, George, and Ringo" = LOO!

Tausig 4:43
NYT 3:59
NYS 3:53
CS 3:25
LAT 3:11