June 13, 2006

Wednesday

Wednesday the 14th is kindergarten graduation day around these parts. My kid's getting more adept at reading every day, but so far he's only at the word-search level. After kindergarten, bring on the crosswords!

The Sun commemorates Flag Day with "Flying Colors," a 15x16 puzzle by Ogden Porter (Peter Gordon). The theme trio—two 14's and a 12—includes the REDS, WHITES, and BLUES in the midst of plenty of good 6- to 9-letter entries. Nasty ol' BIT-O-HONEY, nasty ol' BENNY HILL, good ol' GOOD GRIEF. I'm hoping somebody will explain the clue for the latter: "Brown 'Sugar!'?"

I'm in the mood to quibble with Lisa Wiseman's NYT theme, "Body parts never driven through/on/over." Since when are DENTAL BRIDGES considered body parts rather than dental prostheses? The theme was obscured a little by the fact that two of the three entries began with CAR- while the clues mentioned "driven"; I can't decide whether I like the misdirection or not.

CS 4:48
NYS 4:03
NYT 3:42
LAT 3:37