See, to me, UK-style crosswords seem weird.
Sure sure sure - I meant from a UK perspective, I'd expect the same the other way.
Requiring all the letters to work in two different words is harder from a construction perspective
Absolutely, yes - it's very impressive.
is a different intellectual challenge for the solver.
I agree here literally, but I'm not getting the sense why it wouldn't just be an easier challenge? What's the thing that makes it harder (to solve) that you only get when every letter is twice covered?
My Thursday time was my best ever (while still terrible, Thursdays just kick me ass for some reason) - isn't it rare to see an answer like the central one?
― LOScamposinos (Andrew Farrell), Sunday, 21 June 2020 20:28 (three years ago) link
Not as rare as you might think. Thursdays in particular are kind of famous for these tricksy ones that bend the rules.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 21 June 2020 20:55 (three years ago) link
I nearly got Naticked on a WEDNESDAY puzzle of all days.
― AxoLOLtl (Leee), Friday, 26 June 2020 05:02 (three years ago) link
Natick is still a funny term to me since I’ve lived in Boston for a long time and have always known about Natick. Used to pass the train stops for it all the time. The pandemic has given me a lot of time for puzzles. Out of seemingly nowhere, I got hooked on variety crosswords and cryptics back in January and I don’t know if I can go back to a normal crossword again. There seems to be more online versions of these types around too.
― Michael F Gill, Friday, 26 June 2020 05:17 (three years ago) link
Which cryptics are you doing?
― Barry "Fatha" Hines (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 26 June 2020 15:01 (three years ago) link
I do mainly North American ones. I read fifteensquared and appreciate the UK ones for their difficulty/creativity, but I actively dislike their heavy reluctance to modernize their vocabulary/references/slang. I haven't done the ones in Australian papers as they all seem to be behind paywalls.
My favorite free daily one is Lovatts from Australia though. I do the weekly puzzles by Cox/Rathvon, Kosman/Piciotto, and the archival ones by The New Yorker. Monthly I do the ones by Aries puzzles, NYT, and WSJ. A bunch of other places occasionally run a cryptic like the Incubator, AVCX, and Outside The Box.
There are lots more links to personal sites if you go to The Puzzler group on FB. Also the Fill Me In podcast does a live stream where they solve cryptics.
― Michael F Gill, Saturday, 27 June 2020 22:52 (three years ago) link
Thought Cox/Rathvon did a Monthly Cryptic these days for the WSJ and the weekly was a regular Sunday-sized puzzle.
― Two Spocks Clash (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 27 June 2020 23:07 (three years ago) link
The Sunday crossword was recently revived on Patreon, but they’ve been doing a weekly non-variety cryptic for The National Post in Canada since 1998 I think. There’s a blog that has a post about each one since 2010, including the blank grid.
― Michael F Gill, Sunday, 28 June 2020 00:39 (three years ago) link
are there any good profiles of Cox & Rathvon out there? They've been doing this for decades.
― all cats are beautiful (silby), Sunday, 28 June 2020 00:41 (three years ago) link
My friend - and neighbor! (no, not the one you are thinking of) met them once, think they live out in Hershey, PA, and told me Emily was really shy, that's all I know.
― Two Spocks Clash (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 28 June 2020 00:55 (three years ago) link
I've only seen little blurbs here and there, like these: https://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/08/acrostic/ or https://www.the-scientist.com/contributors/contributors--64959
Hard to believe they've been doing it since the late '70s. (See http://chall.us/hex/hex_puzzles.html for the complete list)
― Michael F Gill, Sunday, 28 June 2020 00:59 (three years ago) link
I've been meaning to ask if you've tried the cryptics in the Enigma and now I just got a message from a B finalist crossword guy about my expired NPL membership.
― Two Spocks Clash (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 29 June 2020 01:55 (three years ago) link
And I'm back in. Am I the only one?
― Two Spocks Clash (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 29 June 2020 19:26 (three years ago) link
I tried that book of NPL cryptics and had little success. Maybe I'll try again another day. I sort of associate NPL with people who do puzzle hunts and are constantly in search of puzzles that they find difficult. I know that's not 100% the case, but for me its more fun to watch them solve those impossible puzzles then it is to actually do them.
― Michael F Gill, Monday, 29 June 2020 22:54 (three years ago) link
NPL cryptics do very wildly in quality. Many of them are insanely difficult.
― Two Spocks Clash (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 29 June 2020 22:58 (three years ago) link
Yes, I've seen Kevin Wald's cryptics! EEK.
― Michael F Gill, Monday, 29 June 2020 23:03 (three years ago) link
Coax troubled cry (3)
― all cats are beautiful (silby), Tuesday, 30 June 2020 00:50 (three years ago) link
Seems simple, but still can’t get that one, sorry.Came to post that I just heard a WBGO DJ talking about the crosswordese word ONER.
― Lipstick O.G. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 July 2020 14:37 (three years ago) link
HI DERE.Redd's Roster of Crosswordese: Do not read if you hate DRNO
― Isolde mein Herz zum Junker (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 July 2020 11:50 (three years ago) link
Letters that cross two name clues can go fuck themselves
― unashamed and trash (Unctious), Wednesday, 12 August 2020 20:01 (three years ago) link
yah, especially when it's olympians and monarchy
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 12 August 2020 21:27 (three years ago) link
blind crossings
https://crosswordfiend.com/2011/09/20/mgwcc-172/
― wasdnous (abanana), Thursday, 13 August 2020 03:58 (three years ago) link
anybody else participate in lollapuzzoola? it's just wrapping up (all online this time). my only goal for these is "don't come in last" and mission accomplished! i'm something like 341st out of about 1200.
― maura, Saturday, 15 August 2020 21:30 (three years ago) link
I'm doing it! it's pretty fun, I'd never be able to participate in person
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Saturday, 15 August 2020 21:33 (three years ago) link
oh yay! yeah, i was bummed i missed the boston-based one boswords (also all virtual) but this has been fun!
― maura, Saturday, 15 August 2020 21:36 (three years ago) link
No, but I paid for the puzzles, it'll be perfect for a camping trip in a few weeks. :)
― change display name (Jordan), Sunday, 16 August 2020 15:54 (three years ago) link
I struggle at best of times with cryptics, but can usually parse the answers in hindsight. However can’t make head nor tail of the single letter clues in yesterday’s Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28218 What am I missing?
― Dan Worsley, Saturday, 22 August 2020 11:46 (three years ago) link
Ooft, way beyond my capabilities. I don't know if maybe someone here can give a pointer rather than jumping to the answers, but fifteensquared.net has explanations, if you do want to go that route.
― brain (krakow), Saturday, 22 August 2020 12:19 (three years ago) link
I can confirm that they're impossible to get by themselves - if you have all the crossers then 23 down might be the easiest to start with?
― Andrew Farrell, Saturday, 22 August 2020 13:45 (three years ago) link
Also 21 Across could be viewed as (3-5)? I mean not really but as you'll see it's important that each answer is in at least two parts.
― Andrew Farrell, Saturday, 22 August 2020 15:56 (three years ago) link
They almost look like the question is the answer and the solution is the clue. As you say can’t see how you could get them without having the other answers to fill in the gaps.
― Dan Worsley, Saturday, 22 August 2020 16:25 (three years ago) link
Dan, it’s funny that you posted that you can’t make “head” or “tail” of those clues :) The G clue is one I’ve seen a couple times (although usually as part of a charade), but I probably would have been tripped up on it if it was the first time I saw it.
― Michael F Gill, Saturday, 22 August 2020 18:28 (three years ago) link
at some point in the not too distant future, i'll need to learn how to do cryptics
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, 22 August 2020 18:31 (three years ago) link
That's been on my to do list, too, but the feeling of getting in on the ground floor is really too humbling for me to keep at it.
― Ruth Bae Ginsburg (Leee), Saturday, 22 August 2020 18:33 (three years ago) link
What first got me into cryptics was 1) this introductory post/video by the New Yorker:https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/cryptic-crossword/reintroducing-the-new-yorkers-cryptic-crossword
And 2) doing this Crypto Quiz over at Lovatts, which concisely lists all the clue types and presents cryptic clues with multiple choices answers:https://lovattspuzzles.com/online-puzzles-competitions/crypto-quiz/
The daily Lovatts cryptics are also very accessible (although they lean more towards British/Australian English).
― Michael F Gill, Saturday, 22 August 2020 18:39 (three years ago) link
I finally learned how to do them in the past few months (using my free time wisely) but I still need to do a lot of cheating/checking to complete a puzzle. The explanation linked here really made it clear how cryptics work:
https://www.ariespuzzles.com/2018/10/introducing-aries-cryptic.html
and doing those puzzles and then reading the explanation in the answer key also helped a lot.
I could actually do that Lovatts puzzle without cheating, they are nice and simple!
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Saturday, 22 August 2020 19:36 (three years ago) link
Nice theme today.
― Ruth Bae Ginsburg (Leee), Tuesday, 1 September 2020 15:41 (three years ago) link
So a few puzzlers have been playing NYT's Spelling Bee.
Here are some of the observations I've assembled:
1. You'll get at most 3 vowels (not counting Y, though I'm not sure if I've seen a set of letter with 3 vowels and also Y).2. The only letters or combination of letters that I've yet to see appear are S (obviously) and ER. (Until recently, I hadn't seen ING or ED.)3. If you're going for the Queen Bee, I've found that the genius level threshold is 70-75% of the total possible point value.4. Humans are fallible, and almost certainly decide what is and is not accepted as words. COPE wasn't accepted yesterday, and one of METONYMY/METONYM wasn't accepted while the other was. I'm also pretty sure that ANNAL wasn't accepted at one point.5. So much for words that aren't obscure: PENTANE and HEPTANE have both been accepted answers, as has PHILHELLENE.5a. DILDO, ANAL, and PORN are all accepted.6. A set of letters can have multiple pangrams.
― Ruth Bae Ginsburg (Leee), Saturday, 5 September 2020 23:39 (three years ago) link
that cope thing was driving me nuts yesterday
― Lily Dale, Saturday, 5 September 2020 23:43 (three years ago) link
I settle for Genius, and accept the feeling of shame that comes with discovering the obvious words I missed when I hit “Yesterday”
― sound of scampo talk to me (El Tomboto), Saturday, 5 September 2020 23:54 (three years ago) link
I do enjoy the red herrings that come about whenever ING or ITY or ED or DOM etc. are presented as options. It turns into a fun little sci-fi/fantasy word generator.
― sound of scampo talk to me (El Tomboto), Sunday, 6 September 2020 00:01 (three years ago) link
I heard points for Queen Bee was 2X points for Amazing level.
― Quit It And Hit It Sideways (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 6 September 2020 00:52 (three years ago) link
I feel like a dunce when I get stuck on Amazing.
― sound of scampo talk to me (El Tomboto), Sunday, 6 September 2020 00:53 (three years ago) link
I do the Spelling Bee most Sundays - tbh I didn't realize there's one on every other day too - and it's good to hear that their judges are fallible. I think it was the Sunday before last when I found at least five legit words in it that weren't accepted by the website. I was expecting to be classed some kind of mega genius, but the rejections humbled me back down to a more average level.
― Josefa, Sunday, 6 September 2020 01:42 (three years ago) link
I only play the Bee occasionally, partly because all I ever hear about it is ckmplaints about what it will and won't accept.
I mean, I empathize on COPE (or whatever) but the continual lawyering about the word list is (a) boring and (b) a disincentive to play the game.
― the hardline according to shrimp on the b'arby (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 6 September 2020 01:56 (three years ago) link
* complaints
― the hardline according to shrimp on the b'arby (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 6 September 2020 01:57 (three years ago) link
I agree, everything I hear about Spelling Bee is complaints about the word list
― Michael F Gill, Sunday, 6 September 2020 02:14 (three years ago) link
I play it every day and enjoy it, shortcomings and all. Even if I chafe against its word list (AARGH and YECCH and YECH are all accepted), it's broadened my vocabulary (tomtit, lanai).
― Ruth Bae Ginsburg (Leee), Sunday, 6 September 2020 03:20 (three years ago) link
I’m past bitching about the spelling bee word list; all games have arbitrary rules or else they wouldn’t be games. I don’t have enough time in the day or brains in my head to ever reach “queen bee” but as long as I hit Genius and get a pangram I’m happy. I do wish they let you play through past spelling bees like the regular puzzle and track stats. I’ll assume that’s coming if enough people keep playing it.
― sound of scampo talk to me (El Tomboto), Thursday, 10 September 2020 03:29 (three years ago) link
Today's Spelling Bee is brutal.
― Ruth Bae Ginsburg (Leee), Saturday, 12 September 2020 00:17 (three years ago) link