the butler was gerard, the page was ellen, the porter was cole
but yeah, was very lame
― ruin a band name by changing one litter (voodoo chili), Sunday, 24 May 2020 19:57 (four years ago) link
but how is that “apt”?
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 24 May 2020 20:36 (four years ago) link
i thought it was fun regardless. that said i’m starting to really appreciate the wednesday puzzle. no tricks, no puns. just straight up.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 24 May 2020 20:37 (four years ago) link
ok, just revisited that corner. calling the numbering mistake 'minor' is an undersell. it's really quite something. 3 clues with the wrong number. clue 95D is answered in 94D, clue 94D is answered in 93D and clue 93D is answered in 92D. what's more, there are two 92 acrosses in the grid, but only one 92A clue.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 24 May 2020 20:41 (four years ago) link
there’s logic to it, but “apt” is a weird word choice
― ruin a band name by changing one litter (voodoo chili), Sunday, 24 May 2020 20:56 (four years ago) link
the digital one didn't have any of the explanation about the butler, porter, etc! I didn't know what the fuck i was looking at until i opened the magazine.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Sunday, 24 May 2020 23:24 (four years ago) link
crossing oleo with olio is an absolute cry for help
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 02:35 (four years ago) link
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 02:42 (four years ago) link
Ah, did not know that. Thanks.I had the same thought re:olio/oleo
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 27 May 2020 02:49 (four years ago) link
The constructor wrote:
My original version was more difficult: ELLEN, MINNIE, TIKI, etc. were clued normally — with no indication that they figured into the story. The solver needed to discover the names hidden in the rooms, unlocking the rest of the mystery. (I kept other first names out of the grid — a surprisingly challenging restriction!) But after extensive testing, Will and his team decided to indicate the suspects more overtly.
That would have made the meta much more interesting.
― fatuous salad (symsymsym), Thursday, 28 May 2020 17:04 (four years ago) link
At some point it would be nice to frey a really challenging Sunday puzzle. Sunday Extreme.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 28 May 2020 17:14 (four years ago) link
a challenge today
― mookieproof, Saturday, 6 June 2020 22:23 (three years ago) link
Yes. I did the lower half. Taking a little break.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 6 June 2020 22:38 (three years ago) link
HATE IT
― mookieproof, Thursday, 30 July 2020 03:34 (three years ago) link
Easy breezy for me, got into a groove somehow where all the down answers leapt out
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 30 July 2020 04:41 (three years ago) link
Yeah I think the down clues were closer to Tuesday difficulty to adjust for the gimmick, but it led to beating my Thursday average by like a half hour
― unashamed and trash (Unctious), Thursday, 30 July 2020 11:28 (three years ago) link
yeah it was super-easy. still hate it
― mookieproof, Thursday, 30 July 2020 14:40 (three years ago) link
Only 3/4 the number of clues as usual - I feel ripped off
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 30 July 2020 16:00 (three years ago) link
I enjoyed it. I also did it at an insomniac 12:27am moment, so that might've had something to do with it. I like puzzles that make me slow down and, you know, puzzle a little more.
― america's favorite (remy bean), Thursday, 30 July 2020 16:41 (three years ago) link
except the gimmick means you race through it faster, surely
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 30 July 2020 16:43 (three years ago) link
I actually misunderstood the gimmick! Because of some early errant answer, I thought that the two-word answers were supposed to be broken apart in novel ways that formed other words. For example, I thought the two word answer SKI SLOPE was meant to be input as SKIS LOPE. When I figured out out the real (less interesting answer, I had a good little aha moment.In other words I did the crossword wrong and felt smart when I got it right, even though my version was clearly more fun.
― rb (soda), Thursday, 30 July 2020 16:54 (three years ago) link
I liked saturday
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, 1 August 2020 05:13 (three years ago) link
Same, it was a tough but fair challenge with nice fill.
― Garry Shambling (Leee), Saturday, 1 August 2020 17:28 (three years ago) link
i don't wanna spoil it but the first and last across clues struck me as big "FUCK IT I BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS FOR TWENTY YEARS AND AHMA FINALLY MAKE IT HAPPEN" energy
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, 1 August 2020 22:57 (three years ago) link
Yeah, that was super elegant!
― Garry Shambling (Leee), Saturday, 1 August 2020 23:23 (three years ago) link
1A was extremely handy for me
― mookieproof, Sunday, 2 August 2020 02:13 (three years ago) link
I had to look up a few letters in 1A. Absolutely no way of getting that. Client was good today.
― rb (soda), Sunday, 2 August 2020 02:35 (three years ago) link
on the other hand, sunday is a dud: too many proper names, crosswordese and bad cluing
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Sunday, 2 August 2020 18:56 (three years ago) link
The WaPo sundays are free and I think they are consistently more interesting than the Times' sundays
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Sunday, 2 August 2020 19:02 (three years ago) link
bottom left corner troubled me today.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 2 August 2020 19:23 (three years ago) link
I'm all for difficult solves, but I do not like today's, especially the cluing.
― Garry Shambling (Leee), Friday, 7 August 2020 21:21 (three years ago) link
I feel like I barely pulled off Genius in the Spelling Bee today and I’m officially sick of thinking about words that contain “ent.”
― sound of scampo talk to me (El Tomboto), Wednesday, 23 September 2020 00:51 (three years ago) link
what the hell
― mookieproof, Thursday, 22 October 2020 20:59 (three years ago) link
I get the standard NYT access through my work, but I don't subscribe to the crossword. So I play Spelling Bee until it stops me, I stuuuuuggled to hit even that limit today.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 22 October 2020 21:03 (three years ago) link
lol what
my wife took the paper with her to france today
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 22 October 2020 21:06 (three years ago) link
today’s was funny. I handed the phone to my wife when I was done and she started to try and finish it, until I stopped her by saying “look at the timer.”
― sound of scampo talk to me (El Tomboto), Thursday, 22 October 2020 21:06 (three years ago) link
my app wouldn't accept that! had to cheat and search for how it would be accepted
― mookieproof, Thursday, 22 October 2020 21:42 (three years ago) link
weird that 35-across wasn’t part of the gimmick in today’s sunday puzzle. i realise it wouldn’t have been symmetrical the way these answers usually are but who cares? today’s alright but felt a little like a slog.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 1 November 2020 22:29 (three years ago) link
https://pudding.cool/2020/11/crossword/
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Friday, 20 November 2020 22:56 (three years ago) link
where can i see the rise and fall of judge lance ITO as a crossword clue
― mookieproof, Friday, 20 November 2020 23:19 (three years ago) link
fucken kiss-ass 1down today
― mookieproof, Friday, 11 December 2020 08:06 (three years ago) link
4.13 Monday in thseems like a genuine cap for me. I am fairly certain I couldn’t go too much faster unless I already knew the answers
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Monday, 11 January 2021 20:19 (three years ago) link
you guys are all maniacs
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 11 January 2021 21:52 (three years ago) link
i don't really approve of thursday gimmicks but this was nicely done imo
― mookieproof, Thursday, 18 March 2021 20:09 (three years ago) link
i got hung up on a specific corner that I blanked on but otherwise agreed
― G.A.G.S. (Gophers Against Getting Stuffed) (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 18 March 2021 21:15 (three years ago) link
seminal punk band WITHOUT ‘the’ ffs
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 21 July 2021 09:30 (two years ago) link
depends on comma placement surely?seminal punk band, with 'the'seminal punk band without 'the'
― Yours in Sorrow, A Schoolboy: (forksclovetofu), Friday, 23 July 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
said seminal punk band has absolutely no relation to 'the'
― mookieproof, Friday, 23 July 2021 01:09 (two years ago) link
colloquially i hear them referred to as "the xxxx" and "xxxx"
― Yours in Sorrow, A Schoolboy: (forksclovetofu), Friday, 23 July 2021 01:41 (two years ago) link
what a terrible theme
― mookieproof, Sunday, 3 October 2021 05:25 (two years ago) link