This is the crossword puzzle thread

yeah this was real tough for a Wednesday, also I think I said this upthread but I really hate running quote puzzles - they’re never really worth it

I forgot who carrie bradshaw was but somehow didn’t have any trouble today.

am incredibly close to Queen Bee as well today (I think) but feel like I’m at the limit of my vocabulary.

man i got SO close on spelling bee today

i realize that rex parker only actually likes about one puzzle per week, but sometimes it's funny to do one you know he's gonna absolutely loathe

I think writing a crossword review every day for however many years has driven him mad

I never remember to check how many clues I've gotten wrong when I submit in Boswords, does anyone know of any way to check after I've completed (besides waiting for the final standings to post)?

it shows you when you submit your answers, but if you miss that you might have to just wait for the results or for the solution to post

Oof, Boswords this week is tough, needed almost 20 minutes to solve, though it came out clean at least.

yeah killed me too

Dammit I forgot to do Boswords this week before the cutoff and so I'm saddled with a 0.

https://www.twitch.tv/nytgames

I need to forget I saw that.

Same probably

Do any of you guys do the Stumper? Can't remember if I asked.

I do it, but check answers a lot

Finished 137 in Boswords, that's about as high as I could have expected

the newsday stumper? haven’t done one in awhile. i love a challenging xword but the stumpers are such a slog

came across ‘org. that tracks baby name popularity’ but JAYMC didn’t fit

Naticked today.

50A / 43D?

That and 34D.

OK I solved it after looking up 56A -- as I was deciding between CORNISH PASTA and CORNISH PASTE. (I wish I weren't so beholden to maintaining THE STREAK.)

The last Evan Birnholtz wapo crossword of 2020, "5x5", is a meta around three layers deep, something you don't see very often.

Here's the solution if you don't like doing metas: https://crosswordfiend.com/2020/12/26/sunday-december-27-2020/#wp

Big fan of the WSJ's monthly cryptic, but it seems to have ceased - nothing since October: https://blogs.wsj.com/puzzle/category/cryptic/

It’s still there, WSJ is just bad at labeling. You can find all the links here: http://chall.us/hex/hex_all_wsj.html

Thanks. I often can’t find that as well.

i really liked last saturday’s nyt. extremely tricky and non-obvious

https://studyhall.xyz/how-the-new-york-times-crossword-became-too-big-to-fail/

yes

speaking of recent out-of-touch missteps, “HASHTAG” is not the same thing as the pound/hash symbol 🙄

While I am in broad agreement with the tenor of that piece, I gotta say that this sentence

Born to Arabian horse farmers in Indiana in 1952, crosswords were Shortz’ lifelong passion.

Threw me for a minute until I realized that it was the horses who were Arabian, and the crosswords were the passion.

Does one “farm” horses?

same

speaking of recent out-of-touch missteps, “HASHTAG” is not the same thing as the pound/hash symbol 🙄

This was my first thought too, but I guess people do call the symbol itself a hashtag at this point: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hashtag

Does one “farm” horses?

No, one raises them, and those who did are IIRC called ranchers instead. I had a similar stumble reading that, on top of which I thought it was saying that Shortz was Arab.

Wow, KAC not pulling ANY punches in his constructor notes for today's puzzle (filled grid spoilers on that page of course):

https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/6/2021

And an excellent, smooth solve for the puzzle itself. I'm a little astonished that he's only been in the NYT 15 times, since he's one of my favorite constructors.

A great puzzle with a bunch of surprising answers.

Wow that’s a seriously great essay from Collins

Loved yesterday’s too

i mean, there are many ways you could clue “PORT” - i love it when it’s this chewy

virtual ACPT next weekend - anyone signed up?

https://www.acptonline.com/event-details/43rd-american-crossword-puzzle-tournament-1

Rex Parker OTM about today’s NYT puzzle:

This is a puzzle with a dense, multi-layered, architecturally impressive theme, and I viscerally disliked almost every second of solving it. Torture.

I stopped doing Sunday puzzles a few months ago. It's been a freeing feeling.

Such a slog, even when I got it down to under ten minutes for a while- and still wasn’t competitive!

Rex Parker in hate-solving shocker.

I'm still all about minis/variety puzzles/cryptics, although lately I've been on Nikoli kick.

Heh. Rex Parker a lot nicer in real life but yeah.

I had a tough time but eventually finished. If I'd thought to look at the title I would probably have gotten the theme significantly faster - but then I'm pretty used to solving conventionally before seeing the themey stuff.

Rex isn't my bag at all, so I try to not take too many cues from him. Today WAS tough, but I enjoyed it! I felt like I earned that A-HA. I think Jeff Chen had a good idea about ways that could've improved the execution, though.

I Like Sunday for basically just being 4 Mondays sellotaped together.