Sunday

NYT 10:33
WaPo [I forgot to jot down my solving time before I opened the next puzzle]
LAT [ditto]
BG 7:12
CS 4:13

I know plenty of you do the NYT puzzle via the timed applet. Can anyone tell me why the applet craps out on me if I inadvertently press the mouse's scroll-wheel button? I'm using Safari in OS X, if that makes a difference. Most vexing... I copied the half-completed grid into Across Lite and finished up there—and drat, my finishing time would've looked lovely in the online standings. (Provided, of course, that my solution's actually correct. I like to assume it is.)

This NYT puzzle, "2-D," was constructed by Richard Silvestri. The theme involves a double T converted into a pair of D's, as in OFF PUDDING ("Tainted tapioca?"). The trouble spots for me were golfer Laura DAVIES and "Hub of a wheel" as the clue for NAVE—crossword fans all know the nave architecturally as part of a church, but the American Heritage dictionary lists this second meaning (which, interestingly enough, has a completely different etymology, from Old English rather than Latin). The last square I filled in was the H in square number 90 (where HANGED and HAMPER cross); I also considered whether Captain Kidd may have been DANGED or BANGED, with a stink arising from a DAMPER or BAMPER. (Um, no.)

Updated:

Today's CrosSynergy Sunday Challenge by Harvey Estes features three triple-stacks of 15-letter entries crossed by another 15 down central vertical 15. • There's another David Kahn puzzle this weekend, the Sunday Washington Post puzzle, "Second Careers." • While sounding out the theme entries in Doug Peterson's LA Times puzzle, "From the Hush Cupboard," I couldn't help but wonder if I was drunk. • I enjoyed the anagramming theme in Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon's Boston Globe puzzle, "New Order." (Can one of you Bostonians recall how many weeks ago this puzzle appeared in the print edition? I'm wondering how many weeks behind the Across Lite solvers are.)