Really tough Friday today -- could've been a Saturday puzzle -- though I think it's reasonably solvable and fair.
― Pomelo Anthony (Leee), Friday, 8 April 2022 17:17 (two years ago) link
I liked it, and I think I liked this constructor's previous puzzle as well.
― Mr. Uncut Risin’ (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 8 April 2022 17:23 (two years ago) link
Yes, she co-wrote a Saturday puzzle on January 29th with Andrew Ries and then another Saturday back on October 16th with Erik Agard.
― Mr. Uncut Risin’ (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 8 April 2022 18:03 (two years ago) link
today's nyt crossword was clever, with 4 answers relying on understanding that, in the clues, "m" often replaces "rn" for those of us visually impaired
― Dan S, Thursday, 14 April 2022 23:40 (two years ago) link
I just did before reading that. Yeah, very well done.
― Anita Quatloos (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 15 April 2022 00:06 (two years ago) link
Quite; my vision sucks so much that I solved most of the puzzle correctly, before realizing that I was missing the joke.
― Fifty Centaur (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 15 April 2022 01:12 (two years ago) link
I cleaned my glasses before solving but did have to blink a few times, so same.
― Anita Quatloos (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 15 April 2022 01:25 (two years ago) link
Okay, Friday’s puzzle is ace.
― Ramones Leave the Capitol (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 15 April 2022 03:08 (two years ago) link
And this week’s as well.
― Wile E. Kinbote (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 22 April 2022 11:29 (two years ago) link
Tomorrow’s good too.
― Granny Takes a Tripos (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 23 April 2022 02:16 (two years ago) link
Sunday on the other hand…
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 23 April 2022 22:30 (two years ago) link
By our favorite guy from the other thread.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 23 April 2022 22:37 (two years ago) link
fckn terrible
― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 24 April 2022 22:04 (two years ago) link
Friend described it as underwhelming.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 24 April 2022 22:11 (two years ago) link
kind of stunned by the ‘popular st. patrick’s day cocktail’
― mookieproof, Sunday, 24 April 2022 22:26 (two years ago) link
Yeah, me too!
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 24 April 2022 22:37 (two years ago) link
really bad
this, on the other hand, is nuts:
last time tweeting about a crossword solving time i promise pic.twitter.com/ucJaPWu78B— pa(ol/sc)o (@gpaolopasco) April 24, 2022
― Roz, Monday, 25 April 2022 00:29 (two years ago) link
Yet another reason for me to have given up speed solving.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 00:36 (two years ago) link
I don't even know how you can type that fast while reading/processing the clues?
my time today was 5:45 on my phone (might have been faster on desktop idk) and i thought that was good enough
― Roz, Monday, 25 April 2022 00:53 (two years ago) link
I don’t how people can physically do it either, some kind of freakish wiring.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 01:05 (two years ago) link
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/10/nyregion/how-to-be-the-fastest-puzzler-in-town.html
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 01:07 (two years ago) link
Or exact same thing here: https://www.crosswordtournament.com/articles/shortz0302.htm
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 01:11 (two years ago) link
But best version is in this interview with Peter Gordon: https://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/ring/
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 01:13 (two years ago) link
i consider myself a fairly fast solver (avg monday solving time is about 3-3:30 minutes, almost never over 4), and 53 seconds is unthinkable to me!also is anyone else a stickler for doing the puzzle on the day of instead of the night before?
― donna rouge, Monday, 25 April 2022 02:03 (two years ago) link
I'm new to the NYT crossword and am not sure what was so bad about today's puzzle
― Dan S, Monday, 25 April 2022 02:06 (two years ago) link
are you all so good that this was a trifle?
― Dan S, Monday, 25 April 2022 02:08 (two years ago) link
Wasn’t that it was too easy, although it wasn’t really that hard, just that the theme seemed kind of tired.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:10 (two years ago) link
Obviously no stickler here. When I used to read the blogs many of them just wrote about them soon after they dropped so I started solving then as well. I remember years ago when people were talking about two minute puzzles, which a lot of top solvers could already do but they didn’t want to submit in the contest like that without checking, so not really surprised now at one minute.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:13 (two years ago) link
http://dandoesnotblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/acpt-2013-it-takes-me-four-ever-to.html?m=1
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:19 (two years ago) link
http://dandoesnotblog.blogspot.com/2015/04/acpt-2015-eke.html?m=1
He also points out that Puzzle 1 is a Tuesday, not a Monday.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:20 (two years ago) link
https://www.brendanemmettquigley.com/2018/03/crossword-1040-themeless-monday-2018-acpt-recap.html
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:21 (two years ago) link
So a Monday less than one minute solve at home is still pretty crazy and impressive but also not quite unthinkable for someone whose fast twitch muscles are in overdrive.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:23 (two years ago) link
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, April 24, 2022
I'm pretty sure it was hard for most people attempting it
The themes are all over the place. I guess unless you've done a shitload of these you wouldn't think this was more tired than any other
― Dan S, Monday, 25 April 2022 02:27 (two years ago) link
Sunday is not supposed to be particularly hard, just tedious.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:31 (two years ago) link
xposts it's always on the day of for me, living in Asia :)
re sunday's puzzle: aside from the theme which was very meh, there were some incredibly bad clues/fill that not sure anyone would be able to get without crosses e.g. who calls a "Program after undergrad" a POSTBAC? is NULLVALUE really a commonly known term for N/A? and as alluded to upthread, CARBOMB for "Popular St. Patrick’s day cocktail" is just awful and tasteless.
i had PREWWW instead of PREWEB early on, and honestly wish that had been the answer, as it would at least have been slightly more creative
― Roz, Monday, 25 April 2022 02:33 (two years ago) link
ah damn it - not sure what went wrong, that last sentence was also supposed to be behind spoiler tags
― Roz, Monday, 25 April 2022 02:34 (two years ago) link
apologies if I spoiled it for anyone
― Roz, Monday, 25 April 2022 02:36 (two years ago) link
It is behind spoiler tags, don’t worry.On the other topic, looking at Crossword Friend I see that Stella typical solves the LAT Monday in just under two minutes, so I guess that is still kind of where a typical fast solver would be.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:37 (two years ago) link
I had problems with the exact same answers as you did.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:38 (two years ago) link
Jeff Chen gave it a good review though.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:41 (two years ago) link
Guy is a senior in college, sold his first puzzle to the NYT at age 15 and has sold 22 so far, so yeah, he is next generation hella fast. https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/2/2022
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:49 (two years ago) link
Also not trying to make light of the time it takes to build up stamina to complete the Sunday puzzle on one’s own without fainting.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:51 (two years ago) link
If I ever start timing my crossword solving, let alone comparing my times to others in terms of seconds elapsed, you all have my permission to shoot me. As many times as needed to ensure I never do that again.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:54 (two years ago) link
And he won the B division this year: https://www.crosswordtournament.com/2022/standings/divb.htm
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:56 (two years ago) link
Maybe more impressive is being 6th in regular play, between Stella and Joon, despite not usually solving on paper. https://www.crosswordtournament.com/2022/standings/rank.htm
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 03:10 (two years ago) link
you are all way beyond me
thought carbomb was an interesting answer, although Bailey's, Jameson's and Guinness as a combination sounds revolting
― Dan S, Monday, 25 April 2022 03:14 (two years ago) link
Sunday’s 33A not popular on Crossword Fiend either.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 03:44 (two years ago) link
Rex Parker hated it too, the whole puzzle, along the answers we didn’t like, especially that one, despite hanging out with the constructor a lot at XWord tournament outings.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 03:51 (two years ago) link
Speed solvers are another breed, as I've only ever cracked 4 minutes ONCE. As for Sundays, I actually like them fine, but this last week's was not fun (kind of prosaic fill/cluing) (even ignoring 33A).
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Monday, 25 April 2022 23:57 (two years ago) link