April 08, 2006

Sunday: technical difficulties

There's some kind of mojo of woe going on today. First I couldn't get the Petals grid for Will's Second Sunday puzzle (is there a PDF out there somewhere?), and then the NYT applet pooped out on me part way through solving Paula Gamache's jumbo 23x23 "Stock Market Report." I finished up in Across Lite, but the technical discombobulation leaves me with no real impression of the puzzle, other than that it seemed tad harder than usual. Tell me what you liked best about it. I see plenty of great entries, like PREPPIES, ROTH IRAS, SCHLEPS, and SHIATSU, but I'm not a big fan of business themes (my favorite Wall Street Journal crosswords are invariably the ones with non-business themes).

Updated:

Easy Sunday Newsday puzzle by one of Stan Newman's clones, and an easy themed CrosSynergy by RIch Norris. Man, I hope CrosSynergy's not giving up on providing themeless Sunday Challenge puzzles...

Dave ("Evad") Sullivan's Sunday debut is today's LA Times syndicate puzzle, "Comic Relief." The theme involves dreadful puns (the best kind!) with over-the-counter medication names. I liked the clues, both light ("one pulling in a pusher" for NARC) and educational (a SARI "may be worn over a blouse called a choli"). There's also some juicy fill, like ZAMBONI and DC UNITED.

NYT 10:56
LAT 9:40
Newsday 6:34
CS 3:07