NYS untimed (forgot to start the Across Lite timer)
LAT 4:37
NYT 4:20*
CS 3:25
(updated at 1 p.m. Thursday)
Ellen Ripstein sent me a link to tomorrow's letter from the editor of the New York Sun. The newspaper's in danger of folding at the end of the month unless it gets rescued financially. I hope we don't lose the Sun as a crossword publisher because (1) I love the Sun puzzles, which are consistently excellent, entertaining, and challenging; (2) constructors appreciate an outlet that pays fairly well, offers speedy accept/reject decisions, and publishes five puzzles a week; (3) the themed Friday Suns are typically the most innovative and tough themed puzzles available to the general public; (4) there's a themeless puzzle nearly every week; and (5) in a year that already saw Fred Piscop lose his Washington Post editing gig, it would be a shame for Peter Gordon to lose his platform too.The applet lied to me with Matt Ginsberg's New York Times puzzle. The clock showed 0:03 when it opened, 4:23 when I clicked "done," and 4:35 in the applet standings. I'm calling it an honest 4:20, and you can't stop me. The crossword has long answers that are mere fill, while the theme lurks in five divided entries that look like they're 10 cross-referenced answers. I like this theme, and it's perfectly suited to a Thursday NYT.
- 15- and 16-Across: [Boxing result, often] is a split decision, hence the latter word is split into DECIS and ION.
- 23- and 24-Across: [Curious case in psychology] is a split PERSON / ALITY.
- 38- and 39-Across: An [Instant] is a split SEC / OND.
- 48- and 50-Across: Supposedly split INFIN / ITIVES are [Grammatical infelicities]. The "rule" against splitting infinitives has been termed prescriptivist poppycock.
- 62- and 63-Across: To evenly split THE / CHECK (this one's got a two-word phrase being split by a black square in the grid) is to [go Dutch].
Two entries don't look familiar to me—TUKTUK is a [Three-wheeled Indian taxi]? You don't say, Matt! INSTIL means [Impart gradually: Var.], and I don't think I've encountered that variant spelling before. Favorite entries and clues:
- A notable [Feature of an acacia tree] is a THORN. I was just pondering acacias last week when pointing out to my kid the ferocious thorns on a honey locust. (Turns out the black locust is sometimes called "false acacia.")
- LEISURELY is one of those oddball words, an -ly adverb that's more commonly used as an adjective meaning [Slow]. (Lovely and ugly are -ly adjectives, but they don't double as adverbs.)
- PRESCIENCE is a [Delphic quality].
- Two (auto)biographies! I, TINA is by Tina Turner, while R.E. LEE is about Robert E. Lee.
- [From southern Spain] is ANDALUSIAN. I don't know which regions of Spain are where, so I started out with CATALONIAN.
- A [Hawk, maybe] is a NEOCON, politically speaking.
- Is an ICICLE a [Makeshift dagger] in terms of actual violence, or just for play?
- [Trample, for example] is a RHYME. Dang! This sort of clue always tricks me.
- Anyone else consider OMOO for [Where Melville's Billy Budd went]? Knee-jerk reaction: 4 letters, Melville? Must be OMOO. Nope, wrong story. He went ASEA. I do get Billy Budd confused with Bartleby the Scrivener, who went to the office but preferred not to work. (And this, in the pre-internet-time-wasting era!)

- BUFFALO ILLS are [Woes of an animal on the range?]. The Buffalo Bills lose a B. The large bovines are not, as far as I know, allied with musical theater in any way.
- CHICAGO EARS are [Things that hear "All That Jazz" and "Cell Block Tango"?], those being songs from the musical Chicago. The Bears have lost a B. Have they also lost their mojo, or will they have a decent season?
- DETROIT IONS are [Charged items of a "Guys and Dolls" guy?], with the Lions dropping an L. Detroit refers to Nathan Detroit, a Guys and Dolls character.
In the fill, there are a slew of small things: A PORE is a [Sweat spot], ENS are [Typesetting units], DAHS are [Dashes in a code], PIPS are a [Pair of deuces?] (pips being the doohickeys, like hearts and clubs, on a playing card, as well as dots on dice and dominoes), an ATOM is a [Bohr model depiction], and a PHOTON is a [Light quantum]. Here are the fill and clues I most admired:
- JO MARCH of Little Women is a [1994 role for Winona Ryder].
- [T man?] is a REF in that a sports referee may signal T for time. What's that? My husband says the ref's T may also mean a technical foul.
- WALRUS! It's a [Large pinniped].
- SPANDEX can be a [Cyclist's wear].
- [Bar food] isn't just greasy fried food—it's also SALAD from the salad bar.
- SAHARAN is clued with [In need of a shower?], meaning a rain shower.
- ST. JAMES is one [Orange Monopoly property]. Do you know how long a single Monopoly game lasts? Good gravy! I was reminded after Ben's birthday, when we played. Three hours in, you might be nowhere near finished. It's dreadful. Clue and Life are more readily finite.
- CHOLERA busts into the big time, regardless of the breakfast-test unworthiness of a fatal diarrheal disease. It was [Polk's fatal affliction].
- I like to say PATOIS. It means [Cant] or jargon.
Updated:

- [Heaven, in Hawaiian] is LANI.
- GANJA isn't just slang for marijuana—it's also an [Azerbaijan city].
- YGOR was [Bela's "Son of Frankenstein" role].
- RINSO was an [Old detergent with "sunshine whiteners"]. It's mildly surprising to see an 8-letter word (sunshine) duplicated between a clue and a theme answer.
- [Clotho, for one] is FATE, as in one of the Fates in classical mythology.
- ATRI is [Longfellow's bell town]. (Hersey's bell town is Adano. What is it with bell towns in literature?)
- Woody ALLEN is the [Writer with the most Oscar nominations]—an interesting bit of trivia.
- Congressional PAGE is a [Job for a political wannabe], at least for a young one.
- I haven't heard of [Golfer Sabbatini], first name RORY. Here he is.
- [Slammer's victim?] anthropomorphizes a DOOR.
- [Source of relief] is an OASIS. You know what? I have never once gotten relief from an oasis, unless you count the rest areas called tollway oases.
Updated again:

- [Nebula composition] is COSMIC DUST.
- [Frank on a stick] is a CORN DOG.
- A [Lively rhythmic entertainer] is a CLOG DANCER.
- CARPE DIEM is a [Philosophy for doers].
- Speaking of those doers, CAN-DO means [Enthusiastic, as an attitude].
- A [Submarine's evasive maneuver] is a CRASH DIVE. Note that the submarine-dodging-danger sense rules here rather than the plane-going-down sense, which would be a bummer.
I could do without the TAPIR, a [Nocturnal ungulate with a long snout]. My last tapir encounter was in the spring of 2007, and please heed this counsel: If a tapir is facing away from you and there's no glass separating you, do keep your distance. They're prodigious pee-ers.