This is the crossword puzzle thread

or just IDE

Oh yeah, what max said.

Has anyone figured out how to submit today's NYT puzzle when using the ap? Completing it leaves a blank space(?), so 'submit' does not accept the puzzle.

Ah, did it on paper so did not have this problem. Actually I remember them saying something about the blank space, but don't remember having one. Let me check the blogs.

Um, where is the blank space?

Dead center, unless it requires a 7-letter rebus fill-in.

I don't know what you have there, but this guy, for example, has the solution: http://www.crosswordmanblog.com/

I swear I tried it with an 'H'. Hmm. Maybe something else is screwy. Tnx!

Yep. D'oh!

Overcoming Dictionary Resistance

Merl Reagle's clue "Morlock menu mainstays" made me chuckle this weekend.

Maybe even better than the classic Sun Crossword clue "Barbecue buttinskis."

i got my ACPT refund check in the mail earlier this week, endorsed by mr. shortz himself! they enclosed the puzzles as well - i aced the first three so far...

Wow, did he deduct anything for sending you the puzzles?

yeah, it was a partial refund

NY Times this Sunday had a clue reading simply "muff". People in the cafe LOL'd. Not actually doing the puzzle myself, I never found out what that was all about.

Did that puzzle, don't remember what that answer was.

jaymc is never coming back to thread now that he is Jeopardy superstar.

I'm here! I just haven't been doing very many puzzles lately. Mostly just the Tausig ones, because they're in free newspapers that I pick up for my commute.

Muff probably = ERR, right?

Ha, that's what I thought it must be without bothering to look it up.

This morning I did the crossword in the Red Eye (Chicago Tribune's tabloid for commuters). Ye gods.

One clue was "African nation." The fill was ZAIRE. Which means they're either using 15-year-old puzzles or indiscriminately selecting clues from an old database. These are unsigned puzzles, so for all I know they're created entirely by a software program.

Also, the solution for Saturday's puzzle was shown, and I noted that the grid contained EIGHT cheater squares, which is pretty inexcusable for a themeless puzzle.

offer them your services!

I try to stay away from stuff like that. I figure if Amy R doesn't blog it, I don't have to do it. What does Jon Stewart say in Worldplay, something like "I will, on occasion, in a hotel do a USA Today puzzle, but I won't feel good about myself"

word.

btw, i don't know if they're syndicated widely, but i have a special hate for the puzzles that show up in milwaukee's free weekly. they're sunday-size and really hard, but also with a lot of (imo) terrible cluing and occasional mistakes. even when i finish them i don't feel especially happy about it.

Yeah, I usually don't do the RedEye puzzle, either, but I forgot the book I'm reading, so I needed something to do on the train.

Figured it was something like that.

i've lost the ability to do cryptics again. just when i thought i was getting the hang of it.

― thomp, Friday, 26 February 2010 14:38 (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

What cryptics are you doing exactly? There are some easy ones in the Fraser Simpson New Yorker books or, surprisingly perhaps, in the Mensa cryptic books by Cox and Rathvon, puzzles which were originally in a Canadian newspaper.

― The Great Rick Roll Swindle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 27 February 2010 02:52 (1 month ago) Bookmark

oh hey thanks! i didn't see this at the time

i'm doing the (uk) guardian's monday-friday crosswords, which are sort of frustratingly irregular and unreliable, difficulty-wise and adherence-to-convention-wise; i should probably get a book and work through it. it feels a bit too much like taking it seriously though.

Ha, I do can't do those Guardian puzzles at all either, even clues that I might have gotten in another context. If you want to see the answers explained, though, go here: http://fifteensquared.net/category/guardian/

This book is great, but unfortunately seems to be out of print: http://www.amazon.com/Random-House-Guide-Cryptic-Crosswords/dp/0812935454/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270494951&sr=1-12

apparently i can blame the british

jaymc, you can briefly be seen in the Time Magazine video of the ACPT.

Ha! Only b/c I was two seats away from Trip Payne.

Yes, exactly.

Tausig's latest, "Zee Change," gave me a run for my money.

Puzzle people posting record (for them) slow times on today's NYT. Me it was as slow as usual but no slower, although couldn't get the NE, so it was a DNF.

Didn't do as well as this guy http://www.crosswordmanblog.com/, but I had the same difficulties he had.

i did alright on that tausig (though it's a little more challenging that usual) but got stick in the northwest corner.

(stupid sports clues crossing each other)

oh i see

(crossword liveblogging)

Today's Boston Globe puzzle by Cox & Rathvon has a musical theme and is pretty fun.

There was a discussion about a bad crossword on Amy R's blog recently, jaymc. http://www.crosswordfiend.com/blog/2010/04/15/wall-street-journal-41610-and-saanich-news-4910/#more-4692

I've started doing the guardian cryptic again after a looong break and am not finding it too bad (Brendan the other day was Daily Telegraph levels of easiness), although Araucaria seems to have got much harder than he used to be (GR much stupider obv). You know you're in trouble when you don't even understand the answers, or why they're the answers.

And those reverse clues w' anagram indicators in Wednesday's really got me confused.

Bacon and eggs etc as clue to RAF basket (6,9) = cooked breafast
Square clue for a padre? (6,6) = parade ground

That latter in particular drove me nuts.

xp Wow, that's bad.

I participated in the Chicago Crossword Tournament yesterday, officiated by (among others) Amy Reynaldo and Anne Erdmann. We did next week's Monday-Wednesday NYT puzzles, and the top finisher for each puzzle then advanced to a three-person final that solved Thursday's puzzle. I didn't come close to the top, but I was fairly reliable: 16th place on the first puzzle, then 14th on the second and 17th on the third.

Finalists were Scott Orman (55th at the ACPT this year), William Hall (296th at the ACPT this year), and Marty Howard (119th at the ACPT in 2007, the last year he competed nationally). Hall won.

Sounds good, jaymc. That's an interesting way that they do the final.

GamalielRatsey, this thread should really be called "This is the US crossword puzzle thread." For UK puzzles go here The official bored-at-work cryptic crossword pass it on thread. , although it has been relatively dead in recent times.

Ah, balls. Sorry. Saw the mention of the grauniad crossword upthread and got my wires crossed. Shall hie me away to the other thread. Thanks James.

Me, I thought the symbol of Wales was a dragon.

Enjoyed reading bbeyond's blog about the Chicago tournament.

Did a few puzzles in The Wrath Of Klahn and really liking it. He has a reputation for making hard puzzles but his stuff his pretty clever and my brain actually wants to solve his clues instead of shrinking from the bad puns as is often the case.

Egregious misspelling in Tausig's Ink Well puzzle in the newspaper yesterday. I know Amy R. test-solves this puzzle, so I check her blog to see what she has to say about it, and to my surprise the grid in that corner has been completely redone. I guess the mistake was caught too late to change it in print?

Probably. He sent it out to the google group with the error and then had to send an errata.

An another note, you can find the daily CrossSynergy puzzles at the Houston Chronicle website here http://www.chron.com/apps/games/xword/puzzles/ (You could also go to Amy R's website where she has the links to all the daily and weekly crosswords)
Today's puzzle is by Bob Klahn if you want to check his stuff out.

Egregious misspelling in Tausig's Ink Well puzzle in the newspaper yesterday. I know Amy R. test-solves this puzzle, so I check her blog to see what she has to say about it, and to my surprise the grid in that corner has been completely redone. I guess the mistake was caught too late to change it in print?

haha, i caught that, i was like wtf?