jaymc, here is the True Story of the Great Crossword Puzzle Battle between solver and constructor: http://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/ring/
― the clones of tldr funkenstein (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 22 February 2010 01:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Ha, you know what, I think I read that at the time but totally forgot about it. Good to see you again, Ken.
Also: you did pretty well! Or better than me, at any rate.
― Lusty Mo Frazier (jaymc), Monday, 22 February 2010 04:44 (fourteen years ago) link
Ah, I was at the bottom of C and you will probably win the D division next year. And you were only a few spots behind me as far as Rookies.
― the clones of tldr funkenstein (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 02:09 (fourteen years ago) link
All these years I thought it was "alouette, chantez alouette"
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 17:51 (fourteen years ago) link
What do you do when you have a whole puzzle finished except for 2-3 intersecting answers that are all proper names of people/places that you don't know? I feel like this is where I end up like 25% of the time and it's frustrating because there's no way to "figure out" those answers if you don't know the names of the tennis player or Olympic athlete or Wisconsin lake that they're looking for.
― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 18:50 (fourteen years ago) link
you bitch about the writer/editor on the internet
― max, Tuesday, 23 February 2010 18:51 (fourteen years ago) link
I just learned this weekend that there's a name for such an occurrence: it's a violation of the Natick Principle, a term coined by blogger Rex Parker in his review of a Brendan Emmett Quigley puzzle.
― Lusty Mo Frazier (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 18:57 (fourteen years ago) link
But does n/a constitute 1/4 of the solving public by himself? Maybe he caught a bad break because two out of three of those guys are xword favorites.
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 19:08 (fourteen years ago) link
It was the one from the Onion this past week, which was pretty easy but the three I'm missing are: "Wimbledon winner in 1988 and 1990" (I've got ***erg), "Body of water by the University of Wisconsin" (lakemen*ota), and "Family name of twin Olympic skiers Phil and Steve" (mahr*). I just don't know tennis players, skiers, or lakes, I guess.
― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 19:20 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't feel like any of those are super obscure or hard, probably, it's just frustrating to get that close to being done and then get stuck and have to quit because there's no way to work those out.
― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 19:23 (fourteen years ago) link
the lake was a gimme (since i drive past it every day and all), and i guessed on the other vowels. but in general i hate those kinds of crossings.
― rinse the lemonade (Jordan), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 19:30 (fourteen years ago) link
esteemed tennis player johan phlerg
― johnny crunch, Tuesday, 23 February 2010 19:31 (fourteen years ago) link
i hate this kind of shit, there was something in Sunday's NYT like that
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 23 February 2010 19:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Once you are stuck like that you might as well look them up.
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 19:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Only one I know for sure is the tennis player. I have a guess on the skiers, but that's only because I think I've seen the name in a crossword before. Don't know the lake.
― Lusty Mo Frazier (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 19:40 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.oneacross.com/
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 23 February 2010 19:40 (fourteen years ago) link
Tbh, that kind of crossing probably might happen more in a Tausig or a BEQ or, based on what I saw yesterday, a Fireball puzzle than in the Times. Although what sometimes happens to me in one of those big puzzles is there will be a little trainwreck crossing (one crosses the other two) of (1) Proper Name I Don't Know (2) Funky Abbreviation or Unknown Crosswordese(3) Strangely Misspelled Theme Answer, which is probably what got Mr. Que on Sunday.
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 20:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Then there's the "is that really a word, or just a verb with a suffix attached to make a new noun?" on Saturday.
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 20:34 (fourteen years ago) link
tausig & matt jones puzzles are usually pretty tight (and forgiving) imo
― rinse the lemonade (Jordan), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 20:41 (fourteen years ago) link
it was ENISLE and ALERS
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 23 February 2010 20:44 (fourteen years ago) link
94A: Strand: ENISLE 91D: Yanks and others ALERS
still don't get the Yanks thing?
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 23 February 2010 20:47 (fourteen years ago) link
Yanks = Yankees = members of the American League = ALers
― Lusty Mo Frazier (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 20:48 (fourteen years ago) link
ALers
― max, Tuesday, 23 February 2010 20:48 (fourteen years ago) link
ah. gotcha. thanks! sometimes i get so stuck on my first definition of a clue, i can't think of others. in this case i thought ALERS was a collection of people who make/drink beer
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 23 February 2010 20:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Heh, in that same Rex Parker post I linked to earlier, there was this comment from Joon Pahk about ALER:
one of my earliest puzzles included ALER with the clue [Brewer before 1997, e.g.]. everybody who solved it said 1) ugh, ALER; and 2) what's the 1997 doing in there? they thought i was using ALER to mean one who makes ale.
― Lusty Mo Frazier (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 20:50 (fourteen years ago) link
except for that Sunday's was pretty satisfying
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 23 February 2010 20:54 (fourteen years ago) link
Ha, jaymc, did anyone mention ALEGAR in that link which I can't see right now?
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 21:05 (fourteen years ago) link
Anyway, I'm finally used to ALER, but I too hated ENISLE.
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 21:11 (fourteen years ago) link
i haven't been following this thread but i have a complaint to crossword creators everywhere:
EMAG and EZINE aren't real words. not even salon editors use them. please stop putting them in your puzzles. thanks
― abanana, Tuesday, 23 February 2010 21:17 (fourteen years ago) link
I agree with you about EMAG. However: EZINE is in Webster's.
― Lusty Mo Frazier (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 21:27 (fourteen years ago) link
loved this week's inkwell, esp. "song they played over and over at this jamaican resort my wife and i went to" and "improve the taste of, generally"
― rinse the lemonade (Jordan), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 21:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Haven't done it yet, but ha: he just got married in November. Must've been on their honeymoon.
― Lusty Mo Frazier (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 21:35 (fourteen years ago) link
You know something I don't even do Tausig's puzzles that often so I don't know what I'm talking about, maybe I'll sign up for that group and have them emailed.
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 22:25 (fourteen years ago) link
Here's a blog post I wrote about last weekend (purposely not hyperlinked):www.britannica.com/blogs/2010/02/dispatch-from-the-american-crossword-puzzle-tournament
― dylan's craggy larynx (jaymc), Thursday, 25 February 2010 16:46 (fourteen years ago) link
― rinse the lemonade (Jordan), Tuesday, February 23, 2010 3:32 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
I enjoyed this puzzle too.
I'm trying to get back into doing crosswords regularly. When I worked at the office, I'd do the NYT puzzle (usually with coworkers) most days. I've been lazy about it since working at home, plus no access to the NYT.
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 25 February 2010 16:48 (fourteen years ago) link
I finally did the puzzle and enjoyed it as well. Although I had a few errors in the top center: I had CAT for "Swinger?" and misspelled the Chinese guys name with a 'Z' so the arcade game came out NCAZAM. (I thought it might be some kind of Snoop Dogg expression). Maybe if I had actually read the clue more carefully and seen the word "basketball" I would have figured it out.
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 25 February 2010 19:40 (fourteen years ago) link
Ha, already forgot about "Flower's Bud."
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 25 February 2010 19:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Friday Times seems to be not too hard after pre-puzzle craziness.
jaymc, I read your blog post again when I saw it linked to, along with your friend's blog, at the official tournament site. Very nice.
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 26 February 2010 14:19 (fourteen years ago) link
i've lost the ability to do cryptics again. just when i thought i was getting the hang of it.
― thomp, Friday, 26 February 2010 14:38 (fourteen years ago) link
What cryptics are you doing exactly? There are some easy ones in the Fraser Simpson New Yorker books or, surprisingly perhaps, in the Mensa cryptic books by Cox and Rathvon, puzzles which were originally in a Canadian newspaper.
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 27 February 2010 02:52 (fourteen years ago) link
jaymc, I just looked at the scoreboard again and noticed that you finished exactly eight places behind Ben Tausig.
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 28 February 2010 02:48 (fourteen years ago) link
Hi Jaymc, (don't know KL's alias), et al.
I wrote a lengthy recap of last weekend's Brooklyn tournament that you can check out here.
The link is: http://benbassandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/02/2010-american-crossword-puzzle.html
That is all.
― beyond, Sunday, 28 February 2010 19:19 (fourteen years ago) link
Already read the that when I saw it linked on the official tournament page but thanks, b.
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 28 February 2010 19:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Take back what I said about winning the D. Even to win that you've got to do really well, considering that the first and second place finishers in D were 56th and 66th overall. If he had been in D instead of C, new poster beyond, who did quite well, would barely have taken third place. Competition is stiff.
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 1 March 2010 16:09 (fourteen years ago) link
Apropos of which is Ryan Hecht's blog post for today http://bemoresmarter.squarespace.com/blog/2010/3/2/ryan-solves-the-nyt-tue-3-2-10.html
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 15:44 (fourteen years ago) link
Hmm, looks like I dropped a single place.
― dylan's craggy larynx (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 16:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Me too. Man, I really enjoyed going to that contest. Can't believe we have to wait a whole year. Guess I'm gonna have to try to go to this year's Lollapuzzoola.
― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 2 March 2010 17:42 (fourteen years ago) link
wait a whole year for the next one.
Latest Inkwell 43-Down made me think of ilx.
― Ole Rastaquouère (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 12 March 2010 03:38 (fourteen years ago) link
jaymc, I have an idea for you: next March 15, you should write a puzzle with the word "IDES" hidden in it all over the place.
― Ole Rastaquouère (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 16 March 2010 20:10 (fourteen years ago) link