I do crosswords to quell the shrieking worries in the back of my mind
I hear you, brother. I do them to stop thinking about cares and stress, not for the mental challenge. The Sunday puzzles take longer, but are solvable without too much brain-sweat and are therefore better for my purposes. I go months without doing any, but save them up and drag 'em out when I need to empty my head.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 01:21 (two years ago) link
Agree with Dan S in principle - speed-solving the Bee would not be good for my sanity.
That said, my current routine is that I like to get to Genius on my own, generally before getting out of bed. I can usually get to QB using the Forum grids (but no Hive hints) before work, but it's okay if it leaks a little into the day. Then I turn to the puzzle.
If I haven't finished the daily puzzle by lunchtime, something is probably wrong.
― Fifty Centaur (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 02:12 (two years ago) link
i now have a 25-month streak
friday and saturday are the only interesting ones to me at this point, although one can hope for a truly insane thursday that's all mirrored or some shit
honestly hate sundays; they're almost never interesting, and among so many answers a bunch of them are gonna be lame
i guess 1000 days is within reach and i'll keep going but also i kind of wish i would just forget about it one day
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 26 April 2022 02:53 (two years ago) link
Have to say I am kind of impressed that you guys can solve for years without hitting the check button.
― Eric B. Is Hesitant (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 02:58 (two years ago) link
500 days around the corner for meif it weren’t for the app clock i wouldn’t care at all about timing (well except maybe for those mega-large puzzles they put out every december) - when i solved mostly on paper i never timed myself
friday and saturday are the only interesting ones to me at this point, although one can hope for a truly insane thursday that's all mirrored or some shithonestly hate sundays; they're almost never interesting, and among so many answers a bunch of them are gonna be lame
― donna rouge, Tuesday, 26 April 2022 04:21 (two years ago) link
For some of us the motivation is purely an irrational worship of the Streak.
I'm going to brag for a bit and say that I usually hit Genius by the time I've had breakfast, though QB is a much rarer achievement (though today I managed to do it without hints, and while I was sitting on the can).
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 05:35 (two years ago) link
I am not ashamed to say that I do sometimes hit the check button on archived puzzles.
(Like, in addition to doing each day's puzzle, I am also working backward through the archives. I am in 2011 at present, just doing Thursday/Friday/Saturday. Using check on an archived puzzle does not affect your streak or statistics.)
― Fifty Centaur (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 10:19 (two years ago) link
My first sub-5:00 Tuesday puzzle today!
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 16:57 (two years ago) link
I actually hit a new record on Monday - 4:10! - but I think this might be that I was doing it on my computer rather than my phone.
― Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 28 April 2022 10:51 (two years ago) link
Ha, and a record for Thursday just now (8:48, and what a corny theme) - I think "I'm on leave, so I'm on my computer but I'm concentrating, not half-listening to a very dull stand-up" is probably a big factor.
― Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 28 April 2022 11:02 (two years ago) link
I did it but still don’t quite grok the theme.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 28 April 2022 11:04 (two years ago) link
It's just using I over V as a down-arrow rebus for 'down' (more like a traditional rebus, I suppose) in the four big down clues - I usually do the downs first on Thursdays, since the gimmicks are usually in the acrosses.
― Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 28 April 2022 11:08 (two years ago) link
Oh, okay. Still slightly underwhelmed. Also was there a reveal/explanatory clue hint anywhere? Couldn’t find it.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 28 April 2022 14:17 (two years ago) link
No revealer IIRC. I liked Thursday's theme better than Wednesday's, though.
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Thursday, 28 April 2022 15:57 (two years ago) link
I can see that.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 28 April 2022 16:39 (two years ago) link
FB FOTO
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 29 April 2022 23:39 (two years ago) link
I don’t do Thursdays because I have a severe rebus allergy, am I a lesser person?
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 29 April 2022 23:52 (two years ago) link
No way! We all have our own preferences and reasons for solving.
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Saturday, 30 April 2022 00:08 (two years ago) link
No problem. It's really kind of a slog to do every day of the week tbh, unless you are really into it.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 30 April 2022 00:09 (two years ago) link
are you not the tasmanian mattt? it's impressive that you do them at all, given their heavily american slant
― mookieproof, Saturday, 30 April 2022 00:50 (two years ago) link
Saturday’s is an enjoyable challenge. Couldn’t zip through it but it also didn’t feel like a chore.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 30 April 2022 02:27 (two years ago) link
Stick in, I think, NW.
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Saturday, 30 April 2022 18:56 (two years ago) link
Stuck, rather.
Rex hated it too, but turns out I had an error in the West.
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Saturday, 30 April 2022 19:08 (two years ago) link
Rex, like the kid in the old Life cereal commercial, hates everything.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 30 April 2022 19:30 (two years ago) link
Hah I guess I wasn't saying much there. I think he's definitely a sour curmudgeon a lot but for today's he gets to why I didn't like the puzzle: the NW felt capricious and ungenerous. I'm fine with ambiguity and misdirection but that corner was so arbitrary and willfully obscured with little payoff.
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Saturday, 30 April 2022 19:56 (two years ago) link
xps I am indeed the Tas Matt - switched accounts to shake my work email, but just discovered my iPad was logged in as the old user so have been posting as matthewk too. and yes, being a non-American I absolutely hated the Saturday puzzle.
― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 30 April 2022 21:09 (two years ago) link
it’s saturday and one expects hard cluing but yeah, 1A is just fucking with ppl
― mookieproof, Saturday, 30 April 2022 22:10 (two years ago) link
Oh yeah, took me forever to get that right.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 30 April 2022 22:38 (two years ago) link
By the way, there's a major kerfuffle today because NYT messed up the coding on an otherwise very nice puzzle.
I (and many others) struggled with getting the website to recognize that it had been solved correctly. Some people gave up in frustration and broke streaks by using check, only to discover that they had not made any mistakes, it just was picky about what it would accept, and it wasn't consistent platform to platform. IPad and iPhone users reported different results from Android and PC users; ultimately switching browsers worked for me but it took an extra 20 minutes of trial and error.
What sux is that I actually really liked the gimmick! Just poor technical execution made it frustrating. Anyway try hyphens, spaces, Xes, the word "nothing," the word "blank," and the letters from the phrase SPACE OUT, surely one of those strategies will work for you.
― Fifty Centaur (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 1 May 2022 14:00 (two years ago) link
Yes, I discussed this last night elsewhere.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 1 May 2022 15:13 (two years ago) link
The Wordplay comments are on FIRE.
― Fifty Centaur (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 1 May 2022 15:41 (two years ago) link
Hyphens worked for me on the iPhone app. I don’t have much of a streak going so didn’t really mind today’s but can see how it might annoy others. It was quite a nice, breezy Sunday puzzle I thought.
― Roz, Sunday, 1 May 2022 15:47 (two years ago) link
Usually when I’ve got everything right but it’s telling me I’m wrong it’s because my fat fingers have mistyped so yeah I combed a few times before I realised there must be a glitch & googled
― gop on ya gingrich (wins), Sunday, 1 May 2022 15:48 (two years ago) link
Based on my knowledge of the, um, addictive nature of gamification and streaks I can only imagine how upset people are.
― Wile E. Is President (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 1 May 2022 15:50 (two years ago) link
tbh if you have a significant streak you should know better
the gimmick was obvious enough, and so was the fact that the app(s) might be touchy about it
― mookieproof, Sunday, 1 May 2022 15:59 (two years ago) link
I’m quite new to this, finally gave in & got the sub to do the spelling bee thing & started doing this despite not really getting on with us style xwords previously - I still on the whole find them less satisfying/interesting than uk cryptics but there are moments of inspiration that wouldn’t be possible with the latter, the worst thing tho is that the lack of black squares means that the same answers have to come up over and over againThe relative easiness also makes it dangerously addictive (I’ve done 15 daily puzzles since I joined but 69 total, you can just blast through the archive) and echoing recent posts the existence of “stats” and timing is toxic
― gop on ya gingrich (wins), Sunday, 1 May 2022 16:01 (two years ago) link
One of these days I'm going to take another whack at cryptics, but the learning curve seems pretty steep for a newcomer.
Anyway, I solved today's on Android and had no trouble getting it to accept it, so my streak never felt threatened (lol feeling called out).
― Human-shaped trash bag (Leee), Sunday, 1 May 2022 18:27 (two years ago) link
I think this is the best possible time to get into US/Canadian cryptics, as they play a bit fairer than UK ones, and you can get 5/6 new ones a week from various publications. There are also a lot of how-to/training guides popping up on both blogs (see https://toughasnails.net/2022/01/01/announcing-the-oneth-of-the-month-mini-cryptic/) and publications (see The Browser, The New Yorker, AVCX, and others). I've been doing one a day for this whole year and it's been very satisfying.
Hard to believe NYT with all of their resources can't figure out how to make an online puzzle with the tiniest of variety elements work. This isn't the first time a gimmick like this has gone wrong. Indie creators have figured out how to make digital versions of acrostics, spirals, marching bands, and other variety types. You would think NYT could at hire them or at least copy their work.
― Michael F Gill, Sunday, 1 May 2022 20:16 (two years ago) link
The received wisdom on UK cryptics at least is that they are very specific to the setters - you'll need a month of one setter to really settle in, but it won't help you much with others - is that less the case in the US?
― Andrew Farrell, Monday, 2 May 2022 09:31 (two years ago) link
There is some small variance among US setters, but mainly the vocabulary and references of their cryptics are familiar to people who do US Crosswords. With UK cryptics, the best advice seems to be British. Or, have a desire to learn about British locales, slang, and abbreviations that seem a bit crusty/outdated at times. UK cryptics rarely (if ever) have living people or current events in their clues, but they do go far into the Chambers dictionary to find words like SPATCHCOCK or OTOLITH. I have to be in the mood for the challenge, but it’s a bit of a steep climb to get there.
― Michael F Gill, Monday, 2 May 2022 13:03 (two years ago) link
OTM
― Wile E. Is President (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 2 May 2022 13:10 (two years ago) link
― gop on ya gingrich (wins), Monday, 2 May 2022 14:34 (two years ago) link
I don’t mind the vocabulary hunt at times, and there are definitely some inventive ways of clueing/punning in UK puzzles. Feels like only recently though that the average US solver now knows that cryptics are a thing, and might want to do them. Although that is a bit of speculation on my part.
― Michael F Gill, Monday, 2 May 2022 17:30 (two years ago) link
Just remembered that I started doing cryptics with a Telegraph (?) How To Solve Cryptics I bought at Heathrow. I then kept going with the variety cryptics in Harper’s and the Atlantic and would still try to do UK cryptics on and off for various spells but ultimately didn’t really feel it was worth it for me.
― Wile E. Is President (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 2 May 2022 18:36 (two years ago) link
Today’s puzzle I liked
― Wile E. Is President (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 5 May 2022 11:59 (two years ago) link
i did too, so i’ll give it a pass for 45D
― mookieproof, Thursday, 5 May 2022 19:16 (two years ago) link
Ha, yes, exactly.
― Johnny Thunderwords (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 5 May 2022 19:36 (two years ago) link
Hah, and the 45A cross.
― Human-shaped trash bag (Leee), Thursday, 5 May 2022 20:07 (two years ago) link
Solved it, don’t know how I feel about it. I was on the verge of annoyance at times but overall an enjoyable experience I guess. 32D had me going for a bit, I had something else there for the longest time.
― Johnny Thunderwords (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 7 May 2022 11:03 (one year ago) link