this is the thread where we complain about the new york times crossword puzzle

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I became a trial subscriber to the NYTimes puzzle service for a month and downloaded an entire year of puzzles (2002, I think?) and continue to work on them. It is the economical way to do it, I think. If I had the "speed download" download-a-bunch-of-links-on-a-page-at-once software then that I have now, well, then I'd have a few years of puzzles for like $5 plus printing costs.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 18:51 (8 years ago) Permalink

The Sunday puzzle I prefer to do as part of a team or tag team to minimize the fatigue of filling in the damn thing.

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 18:52 (8 years ago) Permalink

slaw is served on hamburgers, at least in my part of Tennessee. And of course, on barbecue sandwiches.

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 (8 years ago) Permalink

What part of Tennessee are you from edd? I'm from Knoxville and seriously, the thought of putting slaw, or slaws even, on a.. burger? I can see how it might be good, especially the no-carrot cabbagey vinegary kind. I'm perfectly willing to admit that there are facets to the New York Times Crossword Solver's personality that remain obscure to me. What's a little frightening is how FEW of them there are!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 06:25 (8 years ago) Permalink

For "personality" read "experience", if there is any difference, which I'm not sure there is

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 06:26 (8 years ago) Permalink

for your possible use here's a .zip file with pretty much all the nyt sunday puzzles from the last seven years (388 files/850kb). you'll need the across lite software to open 'em.

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 07:16 (8 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

this week's Sunday puzzle falls on the 1st (hah at first I wrote "this week's Sunday puzzle falls on a Monday") so in light of this thread I considered whether that meant it would be the easiest Sunday puzzle one could have. I have decided that it's not. Casuistry has got it with the boring and tedious thing, but I'm usually able to race through them quicker than this, although I still haven't sussed out the theme, which is weird, too. sometimes I wonder whether it's the puzzle that's hard, or whether I'm just not with it. It's a very particular angle you have to jut yourself out at to do these things and sometimes there's something deep within me that refuses to even get into it. my theory, which is predicated on me being just as sharp as ever, is that the crossword people at the NY Times consider this the LAST Sunday of the month.. cause they work in weeks, right? They wouldn't zip straight from a Last Saturday type puzzle (which this last one was) to a real easy Sunday puzzle wouldn't they? Anyhow.

My complaints for this week are: "dais" twice in a row, with practically the same clue, what's next, "microphone's environs"?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 2 May 2005 05:26 (8 years ago) Permalink

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 2 May 2005 05:28 (8 years ago) Permalink

I hate it when they repeat like that. I was working in some (NYTimes) book and they had the same clue in three of the first four puzzles. Seriously, pay a little more care, people! Crossword puzzles are supposed to be transcendent!

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 2 May 2005 05:33 (8 years ago) Permalink

I'm telling you, you want to get residuals for a long time, change your name to "Euai"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 2 May 2005 05:49 (8 years ago) Permalink

or "Euai Kapaui"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 2 May 2005 06:01 (8 years ago) Permalink

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/magazine/chi-0505010521may01,1,3023795.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 2 May 2005 14:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

Oh, I'm too lazy for bugmenot.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 2 May 2005 18:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

10 months pass...

yesterday's quite enjoyable, but "hit sign" = "sro" ... ? am i missing something here?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 17 March 2006 15:12 (7 years ago) Permalink

yeah the internet one was like that, you had to fit "edu" into one square, ditto "net" and "com" and "org", it was like a handwriting challenge just to cram all the letters in!

I catch this thread a year after the fact, and wowee: I totally remember this one! I really enjoyed it! One of those dramatic Thursdays where figuring out the theme opens up a whole new world. It's like the moment in action movies where the hero's getting his ass kicked by an unstoppable creature and then suddenly the geek calls in and says "it's fire, he's only vulnerable to fire," and then the hero turns around all refreshed and lays his smack down.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 17 March 2006 16:04 (7 years ago) Permalink

Standing Room Only.

― The Yellow Kid, Friday, 17 March 2006 18:26 (7 years ago) Permalink

wow! that's cool. yesterday's was really good.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 17 March 2006 18:37 (7 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

"cross shape" = "tae" ??

plus did the circled spaces actually spell anything? i feel like there was something i was missing

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 12:54 (7 years ago) Permalink

should be "tee". file that one away, it's standard.

the circles were "crossings", as in down-clue crossing the across-clue (or vice versa, I forget).

― patita (patita), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 16:55 (7 years ago) Permalink

replace the first letter with a Q?!? I mean c'mon Will Shortz.

― jergins (jergins), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 17:30 (7 years ago) Permalink

yes i get the crossings bit, but one doesn't need a circle to see that the clues cross.

"columbus" was the first of those that i got, and i was all like "aha! columbus circle!" but no. i liked that. but then the circles proved to mean 0. i even took the circled letters and tried to anagramatize them, but they make nothing.

i obv thought "tee" at first, but then that makes the clue that goes through it "Big Eest" .. "Big East", surely?

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 17:46 (7 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

"Boomers' kids" = GENX ???

WTF, Shortz?

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 16:14 (6 years ago) Permalink

"Boomers' kids" = GENX

Am I the only one who's a bit skeptical about this?

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 26 July 2006 16:17 (6 years ago) Permalink

I dunno, but the apostrophe placement puts it on the level.

― jim wentworth (wench), Thursday, 27 July 2006 00:04 (6 years ago) Permalink

it's cheeky not to abbreviate that clue, or put "(abbrev.)" there, it's kind of breaking the rules - it's TOTALLY breaking the rules, actually

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 27 July 2006 00:14 (6 years ago) Permalink

by the way, my name is now Euai Kapaui

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 27 July 2006 00:15 (6 years ago) Permalink

pronounced "yowee ka-powie"

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 27 July 2006 00:15 (6 years ago) Permalink

No, "Gen X" is short for "Generation X" the same way "Boomers" is short for "Baby Boomers". It's not an abbreviation, it's more like a nickname.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 27 July 2006 00:24 (6 years ago) Permalink

Whoa, my post from a few hours ago doesn't seem to have shown up. In it I pasted Wiki's definitions of Boomer (1946-61ish?) and Gen X (1964-82ish?) and pointed out how for many people (including myself -- my parents are both Boomers, and I am Gen X) it seems valid. Plus, what else could it be?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 27 July 2006 00:25 (6 years ago) Permalink

Argh - SHORTZED agane.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 27 July 2006 00:27 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

I heard it was pretty interesting today.

― Run Ruud Run (Ken L), Friday, 22 September 2006 00:47 (6 years ago) Permalink

srsly, wtf?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 22 September 2006 01:05 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

SLAWS may be the funniest word.

― Abbott, Friday, 4 April 2008 02:13 (5 years ago) Permalink

The Nintendo DS NTY Xword game is pretty sweet bcz you can have a friend (w/no cartridge even!) share a game & you solve the crossword together, each collaborating on yr own DS's screen. So much better than trying to arm in over each others' arms and omelettes and coffee while mutually solving.

― Abbott, Friday, 4 April 2008 02:14 (5 years ago) Permalink

Some of my favorite times have been tackling the xword with friends at a diner.

― Abbott, Friday, 4 April 2008 02:15 (5 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

that "slaws" clue STILL has the power to bother me. more than three years later

i finally had coleslaw on a burger, yesterday - it was great - but no matter how many bowls of different peoples' coleslaw was out there, it would all just be "slaw"

the plural of "slaw", in other words, is "slaw"

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 27 May 2008 21:13 (4 years ago) Permalink

Not if you had multiple kinds of slaw.

― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 02:28 (4 years ago) Permalink

Hurting otm

― Rock Hardy, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 02:51 (4 years ago) Permalink

No, different kinds of slaw results in "slaw", you can trust me on this

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 04:13 (4 years ago) Permalink

slawz

― jhøshea, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 04:15 (4 years ago) Permalink

slols

― Abbott, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 04:17 (4 years ago) Permalink

slaws are made 2 be broken

― deeznuts, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 04:17 (4 years ago) Permalink

fwiw tracer i have been trying to figure out what they mustve actually meant myself for like 5 minutes now

― deeznuts, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 04:19 (4 years ago) Permalink

If you were at a slaw tasting, you would be asked "Which of the slaws do you like best?" not "Which of the SLAW do you like best?"

― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 04:20 (4 years ago) Permalink

"which slaw do you like the best"

he is correct imo

― deeznuts, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 04:20 (4 years ago) Permalink

BTW, did you know that "coleslaw" literally means "curly slave" in German?

― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 04:22 (4 years ago) Permalink

if i was at a slaw tasting i'd look out over the long rows of tables, all laden with heaped platters of vinegary cabbage, and say softly to myself in awe, "that's a lot of slaw"

xpost: no, that is fantastic

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 04:23 (4 years ago) Permalink

no, I made that up

― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 04:24 (4 years ago) Permalink

'Ah done reckon I'm hanckerin' for a slaw somrgasbord yee haw rootin' tootin' frick frackin' slinga-ling-dongin' hogwarshed guldurned rabbit!"

― Abbott, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 04:25 (4 years ago) Permalink

*shoots air; ground*

― Abbott, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 04:26 (4 years ago) Permalink

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