The constructor wrote:
My original version was more difficult: ELLEN, MINNIE, TIKI, etc. were clued normally — with no indication that they figured into the story. The solver needed to discover the names hidden in the rooms, unlocking the rest of the mystery. (I kept other first names out of the grid — a surprisingly challenging restriction!) But after extensive testing, Will and his team decided to indicate the suspects more overtly.
That would have made the meta much more interesting.
― fatuous salad (symsymsym), Thursday, 28 May 2020 17:04 (four years ago) link
At some point it would be nice to frey a really challenging Sunday puzzle. Sunday Extreme.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 28 May 2020 17:14 (four years ago) link
a challenge today
― mookieproof, Saturday, 6 June 2020 22:23 (four years ago) link
Yes. I did the lower half. Taking a little break.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 6 June 2020 22:38 (four years ago) link
HATE IT
― mookieproof, Thursday, 30 July 2020 03:34 (four 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 (four 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 (four years ago) link
yeah it was super-easy. still hate it
― mookieproof, Thursday, 30 July 2020 14:40 (four 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 (four 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 (four years ago) link
except the gimmick means you race through it faster, surely
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 30 July 2020 16:43 (four 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 (four years ago) link
I liked saturday
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, 1 August 2020 05:13 (four years ago) link
Same, it was a tough but fair challenge with nice fill.
― Garry Shambling (Leee), Saturday, 1 August 2020 17:28 (four 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 (four years ago) link
Yeah, that was super elegant!
― Garry Shambling (Leee), Saturday, 1 August 2020 23:23 (four years ago) link
1A was extremely handy for me
― mookieproof, Sunday, 2 August 2020 02:13 (four 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 (four 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 (four 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 (four years ago) link
bottom left corner troubled me today.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 2 August 2020 19:23 (four 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 (four 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 (four 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 (three 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 (three years ago) link
said seminal punk band has absolutely no relation to 'the'
― mookieproof, Friday, 23 July 2021 01:09 (three 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 (three 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 (two years 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 (two years ago) link
Plenty of that in Saturday’s puzzle otherwise!
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 12 July 2022 06:58 (two years ago) link