Sunday the 1st of October

NYT 11:55
WaPo 9:45
LAT 8:56
CS 7:48
BG 7:45

I was late getting to the Sunday NYT puzzle because I was out celebrating my birthday (on the Times' six-week syndication delay schedule). Aptly, I preceded the Ashish Vengsarkar crossword with a hearty meal at an Indian restaurant, and doused the spicy heat with...Italian wine. Between the lateness of the hour and the libations, I'm delighted to have squeaked in under the 12-minute mark. My favorite fill entry here was WOWED EM, and my favorite clue...hard to say, because I'm sleepy now. What did you enjoy most?

Updated:

I got mired down in the right half of Bob Klahn's CrosSynergy Sunday Challenge—the toughest themeless puzzle this week, for me.

In Richard Chisholm's Washington Post puzzle, it took me a while to make my way to the explanatory theme entry, so I spend a long time having no idea what tied the theme entries together. Hmm, suppose paying closer attention to the puzzle's title might've helped...

Ernest Lampert's LA Times puzzle, "Puts and Calls," features a theme of phrases clued simply [Put ___] or [Call ___], so letter/word pattern recognition is key for completing the theme entries (well, that plus the crossings). There was actually one phrase I'd never heard—military references are not my forte.

Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon's "Beast Places to Live" Boston Globe puzzle is jam-packed with groan-inducing puns.