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