This is the crossword puzzle thread

Hah, had another city ending in 'V' before switching to that one.

there's still one square i can't figure out despite googling every possibility

probably not gonna try the meta

i had no problem filling it in, can't figure out the meta for the life of me tho. completely missed last week's, too

Good work on the latest Gaffney meta, zachlyon.

lol sarcasm?

Sort of.

I think I need more chart knowledge for this month's muller meta. The only songs I can think of are all by Journey and they don't fit with the grid's clue.

haven't done the xword puzzle yet but one song immediately came to mind from the meta description...

Guys please don't talk about it too much until it's over. Was pretty happy that I was the sixth one to get it, as you might be able to see on the leader board.

i've hardly looked at it, i think my meta game's off, but i can't imagine there are too many songs that fit the bill

ran across (ha) this debate about crossword-ese in the Crossword Fiend comments, and i would totally read a book about it from BT:

Ben Tausig says:
May 8, 2013 at 9:55 am

I’m looking forward to writing about this very subject in the book I’m working on now for Race Point. Specifically, I am interested in what passes for common knowledge in the universe of crosswords, and how that has changed over time and why.

I agree with Martin that fill decisions are not a moral imperative. But I also think it’s a mistake to fully relativize the question as a matter of taste. There are reasons for trends in filling that have to do with how we value different kinds of knowledge, as well as with how we police the gates of intelligence. AFAIK, no one has ever written or spoken in great detail about those reasons.

If anyone wants to chime in, either with specific information or conjecture, I would love to hear from you, and will gladly cite your name if you offer something substantial.

It's an interesting topic, fer sure.

Neither Matt Gaffney nor Tyler Hinman solved the MMMM this week.

neither did donna rouge

oh...i see the answer now. brb, dunking my own head in the toilet

Oh yeah, I see you on the leader board now.

a nice contrast: this month i got the muller meta before i even finished the puzzle

Did you send it in? I don't see you on the board.

i did but only a few minutes ago

Oh yeah, of course.

I got it pretty quickly but only after finishing the grid. As opposed to the latest Gaffney where I couldn't even do that.

OK, there you are.

Nice to get this one quick because sooner or later most people are going to come up with it.

the MMMM is pretty fun this week

Annoyed it took me a little longer than it should have.

do you guys ever do the Newsday Saturday Stumpers? They're about as tough as NYT Saturdays (if not more so) with less fun cluing

Yeah, I always do the Stumper and I agree, although I'd say it is even harder than the Times because the cluing is so brutally deadpan and nondescript.

Guess this month's guest constructor on Gaffney this week.

Got almost nowhere on the stumper today. Mindbogglingly difficult.

Got the SE corner but otherwise ugh, this one is brutal

Have you tried the Washington Post Puzzler on Sunday, Joe?

haven't done one of those in awhile - i have a crossword app that used to bundle them in but they don't anymore i guess? i liked them tho

Another snarly stumper today

Never got anywhere with that.

To do the Washington Post Puzzler, you have to go here: http://www.crosswordfiend.com/blog/download/, Do a "Save As" on the appropriate link, changing the extension to ".jpz" and then open using Puzzle Solver. Kind of a pain.

date and venue announced for crosswords LA - i live even further away than i did last year so idk

Lollapuzzoola's waiting.

And the express division winner is - Al Sanders.

*applause*

Puzzles were great. I urge you to do the home version this week.

How'd you guys do on the MMMM?

I thought it was easy -- I got the Dave Brubeck clue right away and the solution flowed naturally. Didn't even look up the Marley and Rice songs.

I also won the Gaffney contest last week yay!

i got it

the fleetwood mac one is the only MMMM puzzle i haven't gotten yet in this round (and i'm still kicking myself for that one)

I also won the Gaffney contest last week yay!
You mean you finished the month of August?

I did that too, but I mean I won the draw for the week -- I am A___ T_______

Cool. Good for you. I didn't do any crosswords the second half of August. The third one about Yahtzee looked easily googleable, didn't even glance at the fourth one.

two people got the mega-meta already??

Really? Man, I am still on my xword vacation. Didn't even try to do the presumably easy Gaffney this weekend. But I guess I should take a crack at the mega-meta before October. But I don't want to spend the hours.

At least we can safely eliminate "American Pie" from the running- or can we?

feel like i wouldn't even know where to begin with the mega-meta

I don't think I've ever gotten one. I've subscribed to a few of those packages, Kickstarter and otherwise but by the time I drag myself over the finish line of doing the grids and trying the regular metas I got nothing left. Actually I did finish the one in the NYT that one week.

oh yeah that was fun. i think i finished them after the contest had ended though