Monday, 10/16

NYS 3:42
CS 3:29
NYT 3:12
LAT 2:51

Paula Gamache's NYT puzzle is deceptive, really: It's a standard "this word can follow the first words of ___" theme, but this time, there are eight theme entries containing "the first words," and they interlock in pairs. Scarcely anything in the grid doesn't cross a theme entry, so it's really a finely crafted crossword. What's more, the grid's not filled with questionable junk despite the structural limitations posed by the large number of theme entries. Excellent Monday puzzle.

The Sun puzzle by Mark Feldman, "Flower Flicks," features three 16-letter movie titles. I was thrown off by one clue, [Leader of the Lost Boys]; I had the cinematic Lost Boys in mind, which was wrong, wrong, wrong.