a challenge today
― mookieproof, Saturday, 6 June 2020 22:23 (three years ago) link
Yes. I did the lower half. Taking a little break.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 6 June 2020 22:38 (three years ago) link
HATE IT
― mookieproof, Thursday, 30 July 2020 03:34 (three years ago) link
Easy breezy for me, got into a groove somehow where all the down answers leapt out
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 30 July 2020 04:41 (three years ago) link
Yeah I think the down clues were closer to Tuesday difficulty to adjust for the gimmick, but it led to beating my Thursday average by like a half hour
― unashamed and trash (Unctious), Thursday, 30 July 2020 11:28 (three years ago) link
yeah it was super-easy. still hate it
― mookieproof, Thursday, 30 July 2020 14:40 (three years ago) link
Only 3/4 the number of clues as usual - I feel ripped off
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 30 July 2020 16:00 (three years ago) link
I enjoyed it. I also did it at an insomniac 12:27am moment, so that might've had something to do with it. I like puzzles that make me slow down and, you know, puzzle a little more.
― america's favorite (remy bean), Thursday, 30 July 2020 16:41 (three years ago) link
except the gimmick means you race through it faster, surely
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 30 July 2020 16:43 (three years ago) link
I actually misunderstood the gimmick! Because of some early errant answer, I thought that the two-word answers were supposed to be broken apart in novel ways that formed other words. For example, I thought the two word answer SKI SLOPE was meant to be input as SKIS LOPE. When I figured out out the real (less interesting answer, I had a good little aha moment.In other words I did the crossword wrong and felt smart when I got it right, even though my version was clearly more fun.
― rb (soda), Thursday, 30 July 2020 16:54 (three years ago) link
I liked saturday
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, 1 August 2020 05:13 (three years ago) link
Same, it was a tough but fair challenge with nice fill.
― Garry Shambling (Leee), Saturday, 1 August 2020 17:28 (three years ago) link
i don't wanna spoil it but the first and last across clues struck me as big "FUCK IT I BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS FOR TWENTY YEARS AND AHMA FINALLY MAKE IT HAPPEN" energy
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, 1 August 2020 22:57 (three years ago) link
Yeah, that was super elegant!
― Garry Shambling (Leee), Saturday, 1 August 2020 23:23 (three years ago) link
1A was extremely handy for me
― mookieproof, Sunday, 2 August 2020 02:13 (three years ago) link
I had to look up a few letters in 1A. Absolutely no way of getting that. Client was good today.
― rb (soda), Sunday, 2 August 2020 02:35 (three years ago) link
on the other hand, sunday is a dud: too many proper names, crosswordese and bad cluing
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Sunday, 2 August 2020 18:56 (three years ago) link
The WaPo sundays are free and I think they are consistently more interesting than the Times' sundays
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Sunday, 2 August 2020 19:02 (three years ago) link
bottom left corner troubled me today.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 2 August 2020 19:23 (three years ago) link
I'm all for difficult solves, but I do not like today's, especially the cluing.
― Garry Shambling (Leee), Friday, 7 August 2020 21:21 (three years ago) link
I feel like I barely pulled off Genius in the Spelling Bee today and I’m officially sick of thinking about words that contain “ent.”
― sound of scampo talk to me (El Tomboto), Wednesday, 23 September 2020 00:51 (three years ago) link
what the hell
― mookieproof, Thursday, 22 October 2020 20:59 (three years ago) link
I get the standard NYT access through my work, but I don't subscribe to the crossword. So I play Spelling Bee until it stops me, I stuuuuuggled to hit even that limit today.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 22 October 2020 21:03 (three years ago) link
lol what
my wife took the paper with her to france today
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 22 October 2020 21:06 (three years ago) link
today’s was funny. I handed the phone to my wife when I was done and she started to try and finish it, until I stopped her by saying “look at the timer.”
― sound of scampo talk to me (El Tomboto), Thursday, 22 October 2020 21:06 (three years ago) link
my app wouldn't accept that! had to cheat and search for how it would be accepted
― mookieproof, Thursday, 22 October 2020 21:42 (three years ago) link
weird that 35-across wasn’t part of the gimmick in today’s sunday puzzle. i realise it wouldn’t have been symmetrical the way these answers usually are but who cares? today’s alright but felt a little like a slog.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 1 November 2020 22:29 (three years ago) link
https://pudding.cool/2020/11/crossword/
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Friday, 20 November 2020 22:56 (three years ago) link
where can i see the rise and fall of judge lance ITO as a crossword clue
― mookieproof, Friday, 20 November 2020 23:19 (three years ago) link
fucken kiss-ass 1down today
― mookieproof, Friday, 11 December 2020 08:06 (three years ago) link
4.13 Monday in thseems like a genuine cap for me. I am fairly certain I couldn’t go too much faster unless I already knew the answers
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Monday, 11 January 2021 20:19 (three years ago) link
you guys are all maniacs
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 11 January 2021 21:52 (three years ago) link
i don't really approve of thursday gimmicks but this was nicely done imo
― mookieproof, Thursday, 18 March 2021 20:09 (three years ago) link
i got hung up on a specific corner that I blanked on but otherwise agreed
― G.A.G.S. (Gophers Against Getting Stuffed) (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 18 March 2021 21:15 (three years ago) link
seminal punk band WITHOUT ‘the’ ffs
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 21 July 2021 09:30 (two years ago) link
depends on comma placement surely?seminal punk band, with 'the'seminal punk band without 'the'
― Yours in Sorrow, A Schoolboy: (forksclovetofu), Friday, 23 July 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
said seminal punk band has absolutely no relation to 'the'
― mookieproof, Friday, 23 July 2021 01:09 (two years ago) link
colloquially i hear them referred to as "the xxxx" and "xxxx"
― Yours in Sorrow, A Schoolboy: (forksclovetofu), Friday, 23 July 2021 01:41 (two years ago) link
what a terrible theme
― mookieproof, Sunday, 3 October 2021 05:25 (two years ago) link
Do you mean the Sunday puzzle? I could go either way on the theme but I only avoid getting Naticked through sheer luck.
― Leee Tigre (Leee), Sunday, 3 October 2021 17:22 (two years ago) link
I checked Rex Parker's blog to see if he complained about that one bit and then I saw a bunch of comments about WOE. What does that stand for?
― Leee Tigre (Leee), Sunday, 3 October 2021 17:35 (two years ago) link
gtfo with this other saarinen
― mookieproof, Friday, 12 November 2021 12:58 (two years ago) link
Hard AF today.
― A Frome of One's Own (Leee), Friday, 12 November 2021 18:59 (two years ago) link
Hm. I did ok, except I had a hard time with BEERKOOZIE. If pressed I probably would spell it COZY, but then I generally drink beer quickly enough that they don't have time to need them.
21D didn't come easily, even though I was able to dredge up 20A from my antediluvian print-era design career.
― weregoats of boston (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 12 November 2021 20:05 (two years ago) link
NW and SE were the toughest corners for me, and I had to lean on a Spelling Bee word that I'd recently learned to crack 1D. Didn't help that I had BAY- for 1A for the longest time.
― A Frome of One's Own (Leee), Friday, 12 November 2021 21:50 (two years ago) link
mildly disappointed by this yesterday, in an otherwise fun puzzle:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/biceps-plural-singular
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 10 July 2022 22:28 (one year ago) link
I mean, it's a fair point, but also a trifle churlish.
Personally I want to see some stretches and some catachresis and some ambiguity; otherwise you're just plugging in synonyms.
― Nutellanor Roosevelt (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 12 July 2022 02:56 (one year ago) link
Plenty of that in Saturday’s puzzle otherwise!
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 12 July 2022 06:58 (one year ago) link
In Wed’s puzzle, why is the fourth circle an “s”… I get that “D” would be the right answer but why is “s” “filling out the circle”?
― marcel the shell with swag on (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 3 August 2022 06:01 (one year ago) link
supposedly the fourth circle is meant to be, all together as a rebus, SHADE
as in shading in a circle on a test i guess? it’s terrible
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 3 August 2022 06:48 (one year ago) link