Wednesday

Patrick Blindauer is like that Visa commercial: "Visa. It's everywhere you want to be." Wasn't it just last week Patrick had the NYT and Sun puzzles on the same day? And here he is again, filling the NYT puzzle with a recipe for MILD SALSA. I love PETARD, BUTT IN, and POMADED. I don't know about CUBED TOMATO, though; I dice them, but I suppose cubing's another way to go.

In Gary Steinmehl's "Add It Up," IT is added upwards—in other words, TI is added to down entries, except that three of the five theme entries add it next to an I, so technically, it could be an IT or a TI that's added. Although it's not rock-solid in its consistency, the results are good: PETITE FOUNTAIN, TIRED HERRING. It's a crazy-looking grid, but it's filled with savory morsels like MR FIX-IT, TWEEZES, SOFT SELL, and SCHERZO. It also has a baseball term I'd never heard, split into two entries: EEPHUS and PITCH. Live and learn; store in memory banks; retrieve next time it shows up in a crossword puzzle. A most enjoyable puzzle, even if my brow furrowed at EEPHUS.

NYS 5:34
NYT 4:27
LAT 3:23
CS 2:42