Tuesday the 29th

Tausig 4:36
NYT 3:42
NYS 3:23
CS 2:54
LAT 2:51

The NYT applet seems to be down this evening, so it's an Across Lite night. Either the Tuesday NYT puzzle by David Pringle put up a little more fight than the typical Tuesday puzzle, or my cruciverbal synapses are a little gummed up at the moment. (More on the puzzle after the cut.)

I loved the theme in Patrick Berry's Sun puzzle, "Nature of Government"—a menagerie containing FAT CATS, LAME DUCKS, SACRED COWS, and DARK HORSES, gathered under the umbrella POLITICAL/ANIMALS. (I also like seeing a puzzle with some 7-letter theme entries, because I have a theme idea with some 7's on the list. Maybe I should get cracking on that...)

The NYT was totally bi, with four spellings of that sound: BILINGUAL, BUY IN BULK, BYE FOR NOW, and BY ONESELF. I was thrown a bit by "funeral homage," ELOGE. Of the OneLook dictionary results for the word, two sources say the word's not listed (!), one gives the definition from a 1913 Webster's dictionary, and one or two show it with a French accent mark. A French Google search gets a lot more hits; the second one looks intriguing (if you're lucky, you'll see the naked man (or woman) in a "Prep H" ad on that page).

Anyway, ahem, where was I? Crosswords! Yes, crosswords. Enjoy them.

Updated:

Two easy, breezy puzzles today from CrosSynergy (Patrick Jordan) and the LA Times (Gail Grabowski).

Ben Tausig's Ink Well puzzle this week is called "I Do Declare," and it features college majors (ECON, CHEM, ANTHRO) hidden within the theme entries. It's most educational—I learned that the Virginia waterleaf (which I don't know) is also called SHAWNY, and the leaves are edible. The rapper called M.I.A. is a Sri Lankan–English woman. DR BOB cofounded AA. Favorite clue: "It makes pot potent," 3 letters. ENT? Nope, THC.