Tuesday, 10/10

Onion 4:49
NYS 4:17
Tausig 4:03
NYT 3:15
CS 2:36

Today, I witnessed pig races and a pumpkin catapult. These events must be exhausting, it appears, because it's not yet bedtime, I have yet to begin writing anything about the Tuesday crosswords, and I'm scarcely awake. So I'll be brief.

The NYT is by Tyler Hinman, who ordered the chicken pastilla for dinner last night. I think my six-year-old son (who sat across the table from Tyler) will be excited to hear about the puzzle tomorrow because he's into Star Wars, and Tyler included both LEIA and ARTOO-Detoo. Two gimmes for a six-year-old; OCTAL and CUOMO, not so much.

The Sun puzzle by Gary Steinmehl flips an M into a W in the theme phrases. Wasn't there a Sunday NYT, or a weekday Sun puzzle, that involved an M/W flip within the past year or two? The concept feels familiar. I'd never heard of a SWAY BAR, but that link explains how an anti-sway bar works to stabilize a car. I also read up a bit on Ottorino RESPIGHI; interestingly, he died in 1936, while his widow, 15 years his junior, lived for 60 years after that, always championing his work.

Updated:

This week's Onion crossword is Byron Walden's "Where's Suri?"—featuring theme phrases with hidden SURIs in them. Byron assembled three 15- and two 14-letter phrases for the theme (some of which may surprise you), and bound the theme entries together with a smattering of 8- and 9-letter entries. (If you'd like to sign up to get the Onion puzzles in Across Lite via e-mail—along with the Ink Well puzzles—head to Ben Tausig's Google Group.)

Martin Ashwood-Smith's CrosSynergy puzzle is quite easy, and well-constructed to boot. Lots of long fill entries, including a vertical one connecting all three theme entries.

Ben Tausig's Ink Well puzzle features short theme entries around the edge of the grid and across the center.