This went pretty quick for me despite not knowing ICHAT (easy enough to guess) or TORI (not so easy). The theme really helped me with the fill. I hesitated a moment on the Rhine/ RHONE choice but remembered this beauty by Van Gogh,

http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wik...r_the_Rhone.jpg

A very interesting debut from a pretty smart guy. We seem to be rewarded for learning new things like ERL and APIS and SHOR from recent puzzles.
PhillySolver | 07.22.08 - 10:39 pm | #

For some reason I found the NYT pretty difficult today. I was kind of slow picking up on the Z to A to Z pattern due to trying to start 36D with ACRID for way too long. Third day in a row when I've been faster on the Sun, while Amy has been faster on the Times, weird.
Al Sanders | 07.23.08 - 12:14 am | #

Luckily PHON was clued "Unit of loudness" and not "Cambodian seaport" else I might not have guessed the right river at 19A. Not that I know a phon from a sone but it had that sound feel to it.
JJF | 07.23.08 - 2:08 am | #

Two nominees for clue of the year today:

1. NYS 16A
2. NYT 28D

NYT was a heck of a debut and a very good Wednesday. It does seem as if the character of the Wednesday puzzle is changing.
rick | 07.23.08 - 4:17 am | #

Nominee for worst clue/answer pair of the decade:

LAT 19D
rick | 07.23.08 - 4:46 am | #

Aren't the LAT theme entries 16 letters each?
Bob | Homepage | 07.23.08 - 10:28 am | #

The clues Rick's singling out are:

NYS 16A: [City with a notable property listing?] for PISA.
NYT 28D: [N.Y.C. country club?] for THE U.N.
LAT 19D: [Like tots' bks.] for ILLUS. (illustrated).
Orange | Homepage | 07.23.08 - 10:33 am | #

So they are, Bob! I hadn't noticed. Post edited to reflect your correction. (Thanks.)
Orange | Homepage | 07.23.08 - 10:35 am | #

i was just noticing that, too. i wonder why they are 16 letters long. i mean, you could take the S out of each one and have 15-letter entries, which (to my ear) sound a little more natural.
joon | 07.23.08 - 10:40 am | #

ps--i found the CS to be the easiest of today's puzzles, as it was the only one i did in under 4 minutes. (the LAT took me the longest, which i blame on its unexpected 16x15ness.) i think it was slightly tougher than the typical non-klahn CS, but nothing out of the ordinary.

on the other hand, i'm more like orange than al in finding the NYT slightly easier than the NYS every day so far this week. well, i actually thought today's NYT was objectively pretty tough, but for some reason i raced through it pretty quickly by my wednesday standards.
joon | 07.23.08 - 11:07 am | #

Hey, how come ZYZZYVA didn't make it into today's NYT theme?
Orange | Homepage | 07.23.08 - 11:08 am | #

I'm wondering if anyone else did a print version of the NYT today? It was a different puzzle than the one Orange describes, and the "Yesterday's Answers," printed right below it, is the solution to today's puzzle.

Also, it said "Puzzle by" with no one listed, and also it said "Puzzle No. 0"

It is obviously a mistake from the printer (I'm in Michigan), but I was wondering if anyone else encountered that.
Alexander | 07.23.08 - 11:24 am | #

Alexander, see p. 4 of the newspaper for a correction notice. If you're a print subscriber, I believe you can get free access to the puzzles online and get today's actual puzzle. (If you merely picked up a copy of the paper, online puzzle access is something like $39.95 a year.) If you liked the puzzle that was in your paper, feel free to navigate my archives to the June 14, 2007 post for my remarks on the rerun!
Orange | Homepage | 07.23.08 - 12:59 pm | #

Yup, now that you mention it-- my dead-wood version (printed in the DC area) is different from the on-line version, just as you say. Also, as you say, the 'previous puzzle' solution is the solution to the printed puzzle.
Matt | 07.23.08 - 1:04 pm | #

My puzzle, in the national print version of the NYT, is just as Alexander described.
Zappey | 07.23.08 - 2:41 pm | #

I just finished the LA Times puzzle and was doing a Google search for what chins had to do with lats and this blog came up, too funny. I wish I could finish crossword puzzles, this fast. For me the easy ones are about 10 minutes but the hard ones can take me up to a half hour.
David | 07.23.08 - 10:27 pm | #