― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 00:35 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 00:36 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ferlin Husky (noodle vague), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 00:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― cutty (mcutt), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 00:41 (nineteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 00:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― cutty (mcutt), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 00:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ferlin Husky (noodle vague), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 00:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― cutty (mcutt), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 00:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― cutty (mcutt), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 00:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 00:45 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ferlin Husky (noodle vague), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 00:48 (nineteen years ago) link
Of course, I never got around to it.
― Aaron W (Aaron W), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 00:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― Remy (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 00:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― Aaron W (Aaron W), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 00:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― andrew s (andrew s), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 01:02 (nineteen years ago) link
― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 01:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 01:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 01:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 01:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― Remy (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 01:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― Curious George Finds the Ether Bottle (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 01:31 (nineteen years ago) link
BASTARDS!
― Austin S (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 01:35 (nineteen years ago) link
the new york times crossword is NOT "cryptic" in the way that UK ones are, it's a synonym puzzle, and it's very strictly constructed, essentially each clue could replace its answer in a sentence and still be grammatically correct
one could draw inferences about cultural differences represented by these respective x-word hegemonies and possibly parlay it into a tiresome article for the nyt magazine, or an actually interesting one for the guardian
the nation used to run a cryptic crossword on its back page, i suspect it still does.
we could also talk about what kind of person the nytimes crossword imagines its solvers to be, and complain about that, which would delight me
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 02:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 02:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 02:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― Austin Swinburn (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 02:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 02:24 (nineteen years ago) link
I've never gotten even half of a Saturday puzzle.
Is it also true that the puzzles increase in difficulty as the month progresses?
― mte22 (mte22), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 03:35 (nineteen years ago) link
― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 03:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 04:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 04:31 (nineteen years ago) link
The Atlantic Monthly (right? not Harper's?) runs cryptics by Ravathon and Cox, who are hands-down the best cruciverbalists in this country.
I've never heard anyone talk about them getting harder as a month progresses, though. What do you do when the end of a month is on a Tuesday? Seems like madness.
I can do Saturdays about 33% of the time but it takes a few hours and usually a breather in between solving attempts. I am bringing some for my x-country train trip tomorrow.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 07:34 (nineteen years ago) link
Did they want the correct letter Ø in the answer?
― OleM (OleM), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 09:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 11:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 11:24 (nineteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 12:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― Curious George Finds the Ether Bottle (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 12:24 (nineteen years ago) link
― mte22 (mte22), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 14:05 (nineteen years ago) link
You know, last I checked the NY Sun had a really good puzzle. Lots of well-known constructors. I've bought some of the collections.
OK, here's something.
― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 14:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 15:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 15:58 (nineteen years ago) link
WAAAAAAH!
― Austin S (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 17:07 (nineteen years ago) link
Tracer: I'll complain that the Sundays are surprisingly boring and tedious considering their fame.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 18:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 18:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 18:52 (nineteen years ago) link
Saturday's NYT puzzle is really the hardest for me, because the answers are longer words. I can do it maybe 50% of the time. Monday-Thursday I can almost always solve, Friday about 70%. Sunday takes longer, but I can usually do it easier than Saturday's.
― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 20:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 06:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 06:26 (nineteen years ago) link
― mookieproof (mookieproof), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 07:16 (nineteen years ago) link
I do the mini crossword, and a couple of days ago one of the answers was UPBIG. I wondered if it was US slang, but the internet doesn't seem to agree. The clue was "winning by a lot" or something like that.
"Winning up big" and "win up big" throw up a tiny handful of google results and just googling "up big" returns (a) a lot of stuff about the Union Pacific Big Boy train (b) "big up" (c) sentence fragments etc.
I fee as if I'm missing something. The internet hasn't erupted into an uproar so it's obviously not that weird. But it baffles me.
― Ashley Pomeroy, Monday, 8 August 2022 21:09 (one year ago) link
it's something you would say in a colloquial conversation but not something you would necessarily ever say in writing. "are the patriots winning the game?" "yeah, they're up big" or "did you guys finish that monopoly game last night?" "nah, we quit and went to bed. i was up big." you'd only use it in relation to winning but "winning up big" or "win up big" aren't ways in which it would be used. it's an inelegant clue no doubt & i don't think you should feel bad for not "getting" it but i think minds of the sports inclined would know the phrase
― J0rdan S., Monday, 8 August 2022 23:16 (one year ago) link
up big is an often used phrase to count winnings and to big up the home team
― Dan S, Tuesday, 9 August 2022 02:00 (one year ago) link
'up big' does not have a life of its own as something repeated frequently. it's merely a case of the puzzle creator coming up with a phrase they would like to use in their puzzle because it fits nicely, imagining how it has plausibly been used from time to time in real life, then basing a clue on that supposition.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 9 August 2022 03:21 (one year ago) link
well no, it does have an independent life of its own. jordan and dan s have literally just explained it!??
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 9 August 2022 06:49 (one year ago) link
So I wasn't hallucinating. The odd thing is that the mini crossword is generally easy. Upbig seemed to come from nowhere.
I felt for a moment as if I was a German spy trying to blend in with English people, except that I was an English person trying to think like someone from the United States. Thank gosh I never applied to MI6 to become a spy. I would have given myself away almost immediately. "Aiieee! mainer gams est brennen" or whatever.
I'm still puzzled by the mini-game where you have to match pairs of shapes. There doesn't seem to be a catch. You just match pairs of shapes. There isn't even a time limit.
― Ashley Pomeroy, Tuesday, 9 August 2022 18:31 (one year ago) link
jordan and dan's explanations both cited a further context that would make explicit an element missing in the clue. Also "big up" is most certainly not the same as "up big" as a standalone phrase and it gets used in a completely different way.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Wednesday, 10 August 2022 19:19 (one year ago) link
"further context that would make explicit an element missing in the clue" - this is how crosswords work - they all have elements missing in the clues - otherwise it wouldn't be a puzzle, it would be a mechanical box-filling exercise
"big up" was an excuse to make a joke, playing on the words, not an example of a phrase with the same meaning
and now we're all caught up!
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 10 August 2022 21:39 (one year ago) link
‘THE[NOUN]’ is bad but perhaps, occasionally, necessary; you sure as hell can’t use it twice in the same puzzle
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 23 August 2022 14:50 (one year ago) link
‘doesn’t wax’ ≠ WANES ffs
― mookieproof, Thursday, 17 November 2022 02:57 (one year ago) link
That’s a good clue
― insane oatmeal raisin cookie posse (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, 17 November 2022 04:24 (one year ago) link
most things that wane do wax or have waxed. most things that simply 'don't wax' could are in a perpetual steady state that also never wanes. in terms of logic, it's a horribly formed clue. in terms of most crossword clues' sheer blasphemy-worthy cussedness, it is only a bit worse than average.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Thursday, 17 November 2022 04:36 (one year ago) link
If anything you should complain about them platforming a Billboard clickbait list
― insane oatmeal raisin cookie posse (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, 17 November 2022 07:13 (one year ago) link
really?
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 30 August 2023 05:27 (nine months ago) link
Pretty cringe, no lying
― Grandall Flange (wins), Wednesday, 30 August 2023 06:52 (nine months ago) link
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/inside-the-new-york-times-big-bet-on-games
― mookieproof, Friday, 22 December 2023 21:46 (five months ago) link
You know, I've had a NYT subscription through work for years, but it didn't used to include the crossword. For a year or two, I ponied up for an add-on crossword subscription, but eventually let it lapse. So I haven't really been in the habit of doing it at all. (The only crossword I've regularly done in recent years is the one on the back page of The New Yorker.)
Then, a few weeks ago, I decided to download the NYT Games app because the mobile site kept pushing it to me when I played Wordle every morning. Which is when I discovered that now I *do* have free access to the crossword! And not just on the app. So I've been enjoying getting back into it.
― jaymc, Saturday, 23 December 2023 04:20 (five months ago) link
You match elements of pairs, right? When you select two shapes with at least one matching element, it removes those elements, but you only get one point however many were removed. So in order to get a perfect score, you need to plan ahead so you are only ever matching pairs with one element in common.
― Andrew Farrell, Saturday, 23 December 2023 17:30 (five months ago) link
I think the bad things about this app and its games can be summed up by the fact that the subtitle for wordle is “untangle terms”
― Boris Yitsbin (wins), Saturday, 23 December 2023 18:34 (five months ago) link
otm
there are so many extraneous and useless words and i hate them
Good morning. New puzzles are waiting for you.(at other times of day it displays even worse things about ‘winding down’)Crack the clues in today’s puzzle.Fill the grid with answers. Ready?Untangle termsGroup wordsConnect characters Match motifsDecode digitsGo fuck yourself
― mookieproof, Saturday, 20 January 2024 08:04 (four months ago) link
you are being interpellated as an extremely basic aspirational dimwit
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 20 January 2024 09:48 (four months ago) link
wtf
― mookieproof, Thursday, 7 March 2024 16:29 (two months ago) link
that is bewildering
― symsymsym, Thursday, 7 March 2024 16:40 (two months ago) link
Sucks
― The SoyBoy West Coast (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, 7 March 2024 16:48 (two months ago) link
I still don’t think that makes it “modern.” The puzzle column seems to imply its “colloquial” but those words don’t mean the same thing to me
― The SoyBoy West Coast (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, 7 March 2024 16:54 (two months ago) link
It’s not worse than that twee “story” but it is very lame
― cozen itt (wins), Thursday, 7 March 2024 17:42 (two months ago) link
Okay today has some major mindfuckery.
I filled everything in fine and was like, "huh?" Then "oh HELL no." Then "whoa."
― alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 17 March 2024 10:28 (two months ago) link
Yeah v elegant
― cozen itt (wins), Sunday, 17 March 2024 12:12 (two months ago) link
it's like a sfw version of the freud nyer one
― 龜, Sunday, 17 March 2024 15:37 (two months ago) link
what a great puzzle. probably shouldn't have started in the middle
― symsymsym, Tuesday, 19 March 2024 05:37 (two months ago) link
ffs lads
Synonym found after deleting half the letters of EXHILARATE
Pulitzer-winning author whose name is found in nonconsecutive letters of “page turner”
― mookieproof, Thursday, 28 March 2024 12:40 (two months ago) link
i mean i’m sorry that james AGEE is inevitable fill several times a month but try harder
― mookieproof, Thursday, 28 March 2024 12:45 (two months ago) link
for all of the grid embellishments, that puzzle was kind of dull in general.
― jaymc, Thursday, 28 March 2024 13:01 (two months ago) link
57A was brutal clue and answer.
― Astarion Is Born (Leee), Thursday, 28 March 2024 17:20 (two months ago) link
not really a complaint, but it’s weird to go six years without ARHAT then get it on back-to-back days
― mookieproof, Friday, 29 March 2024 03:50 (two months ago) link
I learned it from the NYT Spelling Bee!
― Andrew Farrell, Friday, 29 March 2024 10:41 (two months ago) link