This is the crossword puzzle thread

today’s NYT puzzle features the most useless ‘theme’ i’ve ever encountered

embarrassed for everyone involved

Mookieproof, do you mean Tuesday's?

The theme wasn't necessary, but it wasn't that bad imo. I don't think I could have constructed very many pairings like NY|PA.

Or do you mean the Monday, which is unsurprisingly boring... because it's Monday and is meant for beginners.

I like Tuesday's theme but it was the kind of theme that only made sense after you solved the puzzle

Yeah I am pretty doctrinaire about solving top left to bottom right. There have been a LOT of puzzles that I solved 100% correctly without ever getting the theme, then I look back and I'm like "oh, okay."

yeah, i meant tuesday’s

there’s nothing about it that’s integral to the solving process; it’s just at the end you learn that — wow! — four whole times they managed to put the two-letter abbreviations of abutting states next to each other. so what? it’s not a marvel of construction and it adds nothing substantive to actually doing the puzzle. it is neither hat nor cattle. much rather see a themeless than a theme so tenuous

enjoyed today's theme

Posted my best ever time of 3:01 with yesterday's (i.e. a Tuesday)!

I'm only yet adept at Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday I can sometimes do without help, Thursday, Friday, and especially Saturday not yet. I hate that the NYT pushes the time in your face, I try to ignore it. They don't do that for Spelling Bee (my favorite puzzle), Connections (which I can take or leave) or Wordle.

Wordle fills me with the most anxiety. It is a great puzzle, but there are traps, and there is something about it that makes it a game I don't want to lose

That's all fair; the main reason I pay attention to my time is that I very occasionally do tournaments (not often though). I think maybe I was overly influenced by the Wordplay documentary, which I watched early in my solving days.

you can turn the crossword timer off in the settings

Leee do you do the crossword on the computer or on the app?

If I'm in bed, I'm using the app, but usually I'm on a desktop, especially if I'm solving for speed.

I use a laptop, not the app, and haven't found a way to turn off the time stats on the main page using the settings.

I try doing the crossword using the app on my iPad when I'm traveling, but it's always a mess for me

if by laptop you mean 'on the nyt website', uncheck this

https://i.imgur.com/IhzossD.jpg

(i also hate the running timer)

thank you mookieproof

Themed puzzle today. NE was incredibly hard for me to get into until I took a few chances.

i found the one a few thursdays ago very difficult - the one about black ops maybe it was just because i hadn’t done one in a couple of months? felt more like a friday or even saturday tbh. v enjoyable tho

Is anyone else having problems playing the NYT Xword on a desktop browser? It's not letting me log in, and so I have to play on mobile.

Clever puzzle today.

I liked it too but had the (frequent) sensation that I would solve it completely and correctly, and only get the theme later. Which is what happened.

I’m gonna stream some crossword solving on twitch in about half an hour

https://twitch.tv/silby89

very angered at ROLF on wednesday's xw

40-down in today’s NYT is wholly new to me

I think I'd heard the word before, but couldn't tell you what it meant.

The revealer is a 5/5 groaner.

yeah good puzzle today!

40-down is the name of a character in dune messiah iirc

wow

i guess you no longer need the weirding module

Tomorrow's NYT theme is reminiscent of a puzzle I submitted to them 15 years ago, which was rejected.

Mine:

Full-grown frontiersman?: FOX CARSON
Full-grown rock musician?: KOALA RAMONE
Full-grown inventor?: SAMUEL HORSE
Full-grown actor?: RYAN GOOSE

NYT, 4/16/24:

*Actor who played Oscar Wilde in "Wilde" [fish]: STEPHEN FRY
*Inventor who patented the first revolver [stallion]: SAMUEL COLT
*English essayist who wrote "Lawyers, I suppose, were children once" [ram]: CHARLES LAMB
*Mouseketeer peer of Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake [gander]: RYAN GOSLING
*Certain immature adult … with a hint to both halves of the answers to each starred clue: MAN BABY

Today's puzzle is admittedly better, conceptually -- but it's funny now to remember that one of the reasons I was given for why my puzzle was rejected was that Ryan Gosling wasn't famous enough.