The New York Times Crossword Puzzle thread

I have 44 words and 238 points so far. I have five pangrams. Maybe I'll get to genius... 


alha said:

I went back and counted my pangrams and to my surprise found that I had 6. I don't remember ever seeing a puzzle with that  many pangrams

 I figured that there had to be at least one more to get to genius 


Well, that was easier than I first thought.


I had to work really hard at the Sunday crossword, but I finally figured out what was going on with all the Kings in the gray boxes...it was so rewarding for me to figure out what that was all about....and once I did, I was able to finish the puzzle easily. I don't often finish the Sunday puzzle, so for me that was quite an accomplishment.


alha said:

I had to work really hard at the Sunday crossword, but I finally figured out what was going on with all the Kings in the gray boxes...it was so rewarding for me to figure out what that was all about....and once I did, I was able to finish the puzzle easily. I don't often finish the Sunday puzzle, so for me that was quite an accomplishment.

 just a reminder to try to avoid spoilers  for current puzzles.


drummerboy said:

 just a reminder to try to avoid spoilers  for current puzzles.

 spoilers? what spoilers?


I'll let others weigh in, but normally we don't talk about the details of a current puzzle.


Just finished. Alha didn’t spoil anything. The clues ask specifically for a King, and gray boxes always mean something is going on.

Glad to hear your effort paid off for you, alha.


DaveSchmidt said:

Just finished. Alha didn’t spoil anything. The clues ask specifically for a King, and gray boxes always mean something is going on.

Glad to hear your effort paid off for you, alha.

Whew...it's nice to know that somebody else thinks I didn't spoil anything.


Solved today, but can someone please PM me with an explanation of how the clue and answer for 19 across relate? Thankey.


edited to add: Never mind. I get it.



jimmurphy said:

Solved today, but can someone please PM me with an explanation of how the clue and answer for 19 across relate? Thankey.


edited to add: Never mind. I get it.

 I didn't think it was a very elegant clue/answer. 

I also thought 48d showed a bit of chutzpah. 


I despise clues/answers like 48down. I also still don't get why 19 across is 19 across except maybe vaguely, so if anyone wants to message me, I wouldn't complain.

Also, I thought I used to be much worse at the puzzle but it turns out it just used to be harder. I went back as far as the archives go and tried a random Monday and it took me twice as long, if not longer, than a current Monday takes me. Not sure whether that's the case in general, but I kind of miss those days. (On the other hand, I spend enough time on these things as it is.)


Everyone got their "ING" words sharpened up?  Except for a few others, that's about all I could find in today's "Spelling Bee".  Could still have a breakthrough if I take another look later...


Juniemoon said:

Everyone got their "ING" words sharpened up?  Except for a few others, that's about all I could find in today's "Spelling Bee".  Could still have a breakthrough if I take another look later...

 There's a dedicated thread running for Spelling Bee comments, @Juniemoon.

You'll find it here -  https://maplewood.worldwebs.com/forums/discussion/the-nyt-spelling


marksierra said:

 There's a dedicated thread running for Spelling Bee comments, @Juniemoon.

You'll find it here -  https://maplewood.worldwebs.com/forums/discussion/the-nyt-spelling

 Oops, sorry.  Thanks, Mark.  Haven't been keeping up, I guess...  ☺️

I'm at 24 wds for 150 points, but, dried out now, I think.


I almost entirely solved last week’s Sunday Times crossword puzzle, and while I got all the theme clues, it was only now in checking my answers that I fully understood the theme, especially the bottom-most answer that doesn’t fit the pattern but actually explains it in its own clever play on words.

Full disclosure: I cheated on “Common viper”, and scratched my head over the odd term for the Morse code symbol, which I’d never heard before and had to look up; I knew the Morse code by heart in 7th grade and have since forgotten it entirely. Ta-dah!


jasper said:

I almost entirely solved last week’s Sunday Times crossword puzzle, and while I got all the theme clues, it was only now in checking my answers that I fully understood the theme, especially the bottom-most answer that doesn’t fit the pattern but actually explains it in its own clever play on words.

question  


Dave, is it not part of your job description to confirm your crossword puzzle prowess on a weekly basis?


came across this tweet recently

what do people think of this?

For myself, I consider having to look something up "cheating". If I finish a puzzle like that it sort of has a mental asterisk attached to it.


In our family it’s cheating, but we’re pretty strict that way. My son broke a streak in the 200s because he wouldn’t take an assist. But I wish I/we didn’t feel that way. 


Not cheating in my mind, but I think of things like this now from a neuropsychological point of view. Crystallized knowledge is nice but not the gold standard.


Of course it's cheating, and I do it without regret. My conscience is no match for the reward of learning something. 


I’ll only consult Rex when I have filled the grid with an error somewhere and just cannot find it. If I learn from the mistake, ditto Dave.

I consider any puzzle where the time exceeds my average as a failure of sorts. I grant myself some slack from Thursday to Saturday although Thursday puzzles have been less challenging with fewer rebuses and gimmicks lately.


When i get to the point where I feel defeated by a puzzle, i will look up answers but won't fill them in 


I will occasionally Google an answer but very, very rarely. And I only go to Rex when I've completed a puzzle and want to see his analysis/judgement/commentary. If I can't finish a puzzle, I put it down and pick it up later. 

Amazing how answers come to you after the break that seemed impossible earlier in the day. 

I have a book of Sunday NYT puzzles that I keep by my desk and during boring conference calls I'll work on one. Those I have no problem cheating on, for some reason. The daily/Sunday puzzle I never (very, very rarely) do. 


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

 

Amazing how answers come to you after the break that seemed impossible earlier in the day. 


I've thought about this a lot and always wondered if it reflects a broader cognitive phenomenon.  That is, when you are at an impasse with something, does putting it aside for a while hit a reset button that allows a different, correct approach to enter your mind.  


bub said:

I've thought about this a lot and always wondered if it reflects a broader cognitive phenomenon. That is, when you are at an impasse with something, does putting it aside for a while hit a reset button that allows a different, correct approach to enter your mind.

I had a job that included a task akin to solving puzzles on a deadline. When I got stuck, getting up from the desk and taking an aimless walk around the office for a minute or two almost never failed.


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