Gareth Bain's
Los Angeles Times crossword today includes TOPBRASS, TANNINGBED, THREEBEARS, TAXBREAK, TRAILBIKE and TIMBURTON. The initials of those phrases represent "Diagnostic skin injection": TBTEST.
I couldn't help thinking of a Three Stooges short in which the three were getting dressed for a formal event and Moe was struggling to get a cummerbund around Curly's waist. He complained, "I could get this around ya if you didn't have TB." Curly said, "TB?" Moe said, "Yeah, Two Bellies."
David Woolf's
New York Times crossword was disappointing. He used French (COQ), Greek (RHO), Vietnamese (PHO), Latin (IDEST) and Spanish (ESOS, ESTA, PESO, CERVEZA). He also included the over-used words AJAR, APE, ASP, ELAN, IRA, OPAL and SPA.
The Universal crossword also contained several over-used words: ACT, AGE, AISLE, ALL, AREA, EER, EGO, EKE, ELK, ODE, OPT and SPA. The 13x13 NEA crossword included only two seven-letter words. All the other words were of six letters or fewer.