Also not trying to make light of the time it takes to build up stamina to complete the Sunday puzzle on one’s own without fainting.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:51 (two years ago) link
If I ever start timing my crossword solving, let alone comparing my times to others in terms of seconds elapsed, you all have my permission to shoot me. As many times as needed to ensure I never do that again.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:54 (two years ago) link
And he won the B division this year: https://www.crosswordtournament.com/2022/standings/divb.htm
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 02:56 (two years ago) link
Maybe more impressive is being 6th in regular play, between Stella and Joon, despite not usually solving on paper. https://www.crosswordtournament.com/2022/standings/rank.htm
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 03:10 (two years ago) link
you are all way beyond me
thought carbomb was an interesting answer, although Bailey's, Jameson's and Guinness as a combination sounds revolting
― Dan S, Monday, 25 April 2022 03:14 (two years ago) link
Sunday’s 33A not popular on Crossword Fiend either.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 03:44 (two years ago) link
Rex Parker hated it too, the whole puzzle, along the answers we didn’t like, especially that one, despite hanging out with the constructor a lot at XWord tournament outings.
― H.R. MacGufnstuf (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 25 April 2022 03:51 (two years ago) link
Speed solvers are another breed, as I've only ever cracked 4 minutes ONCE. As for Sundays, I actually like them fine, but this last week's was not fun (kind of prosaic fill/cluing) (even ignoring 33A).
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Monday, 25 April 2022 23:57 (two years ago) link
I just passed a year-long streak a few days ago and felt good about it.
While I am not TOO into speed, I do like to finish quickly - for example today I finished under 5 minutes (4:54), which is almost as fast as typing.
But that's not my main goal. I like improving my average over the long term. Unfortunately a system glitch has given me some bizarre 1-minute "best" times.
Anyways.
Solve how you like, do what you like, this is all a voluntary leisure activity
― Fifty Centaur (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 00:05 (two years ago) link
I started getting into the NYT hard sudoku because I'm good at it, but I really don't like the idea of timing in puzzles. I want to walk away and not worry about the clock.
My brother-in-law has OCD and won't even try the timed NYT crossword or sudoku puzzles because they are too stressful for him
― Dan S, Tuesday, 26 April 2022 00:45 (two years ago) link
I like that Spelling Bee has no clock
― Dan S, Tuesday, 26 April 2022 01:00 (two years ago) link
I do crosswords to quell the shrieking worries in the back of my mind, so a longer solve is value-adding for me
― assert (matttkkkk), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 01:04 (two years ago) link
Speed solving is not for everyone, that's for sure.
― Eric B. Is Hesitant (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 01:05 (two years ago) link
I do crosswords to quell the shrieking worries in the back of my mind
I hear you, brother. I do them to stop thinking about cares and stress, not for the mental challenge. The Sunday puzzles take longer, but are solvable without too much brain-sweat and are therefore better for my purposes. I go months without doing any, but save them up and drag 'em out when I need to empty my head.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 01:21 (two years ago) link
Agree with Dan S in principle - speed-solving the Bee would not be good for my sanity.
That said, my current routine is that I like to get to Genius on my own, generally before getting out of bed. I can usually get to QB using the Forum grids (but no Hive hints) before work, but it's okay if it leaks a little into the day. Then I turn to the puzzle.
If I haven't finished the daily puzzle by lunchtime, something is probably wrong.
― Fifty Centaur (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 02:12 (two years ago) link
i now have a 25-month streak
friday and saturday are the only interesting ones to me at this point, although one can hope for a truly insane thursday that's all mirrored or some shit
honestly hate sundays; they're almost never interesting, and among so many answers a bunch of them are gonna be lame
i guess 1000 days is within reach and i'll keep going but also i kind of wish i would just forget about it one day
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 26 April 2022 02:53 (two years ago) link
Have to say I am kind of impressed that you guys can solve for years without hitting the check button.
― Eric B. Is Hesitant (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 02:58 (two years ago) link
500 days around the corner for meif it weren’t for the app clock i wouldn’t care at all about timing (well except maybe for those mega-large puzzles they put out every december) - when i solved mostly on paper i never timed myself
friday and saturday are the only interesting ones to me at this point, although one can hope for a truly insane thursday that's all mirrored or some shithonestly hate sundays; they're almost never interesting, and among so many answers a bunch of them are gonna be lame
― donna rouge, Tuesday, 26 April 2022 04:21 (two years ago) link
For some of us the motivation is purely an irrational worship of the Streak.
I'm going to brag for a bit and say that I usually hit Genius by the time I've had breakfast, though QB is a much rarer achievement (though today I managed to do it without hints, and while I was sitting on the can).
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 05:35 (two years ago) link
I am not ashamed to say that I do sometimes hit the check button on archived puzzles.
(Like, in addition to doing each day's puzzle, I am also working backward through the archives. I am in 2011 at present, just doing Thursday/Friday/Saturday. Using check on an archived puzzle does not affect your streak or statistics.)
― Fifty Centaur (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 10:19 (two years ago) link
My first sub-5:00 Tuesday puzzle today!
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Tuesday, 26 April 2022 16:57 (two years ago) link
I actually hit a new record on Monday - 4:10! - but I think this might be that I was doing it on my computer rather than my phone.
― Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 28 April 2022 10:51 (two years ago) link
Ha, and a record for Thursday just now (8:48, and what a corny theme) - I think "I'm on leave, so I'm on my computer but I'm concentrating, not half-listening to a very dull stand-up" is probably a big factor.
― Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 28 April 2022 11:02 (two years ago) link
I did it but still don’t quite grok the theme.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 28 April 2022 11:04 (two years ago) link
It's just using I over V as a down-arrow rebus for 'down' (more like a traditional rebus, I suppose) in the four big down clues - I usually do the downs first on Thursdays, since the gimmicks are usually in the acrosses.
― Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 28 April 2022 11:08 (two years ago) link
Oh, okay. Still slightly underwhelmed. Also was there a reveal/explanatory clue hint anywhere? Couldn’t find it.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 28 April 2022 14:17 (two years ago) link
No revealer IIRC. I liked Thursday's theme better than Wednesday's, though.
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Thursday, 28 April 2022 15:57 (two years ago) link
I can see that.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 28 April 2022 16:39 (two years ago) link
FB FOTO
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 29 April 2022 23:39 (two years ago) link
I don’t do Thursdays because I have a severe rebus allergy, am I a lesser person?
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 29 April 2022 23:52 (two years ago) link
No way! We all have our own preferences and reasons for solving.
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Saturday, 30 April 2022 00:08 (two years ago) link
No problem. It's really kind of a slog to do every day of the week tbh, unless you are really into it.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 30 April 2022 00:09 (two years ago) link
are you not the tasmanian mattt? it's impressive that you do them at all, given their heavily american slant
― mookieproof, Saturday, 30 April 2022 00:50 (two years ago) link
Saturday’s is an enjoyable challenge. Couldn’t zip through it but it also didn’t feel like a chore.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 30 April 2022 02:27 (two years ago) link
Stick in, I think, NW.
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Saturday, 30 April 2022 18:56 (two years ago) link
Stuck, rather.
Rex hated it too, but turns out I had an error in the West.
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Saturday, 30 April 2022 19:08 (two years ago) link
Rex, like the kid in the old Life cereal commercial, hates everything.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 30 April 2022 19:30 (two years ago) link
Hah I guess I wasn't saying much there. I think he's definitely a sour curmudgeon a lot but for today's he gets to why I didn't like the puzzle: the NW felt capricious and ungenerous. I'm fine with ambiguity and misdirection but that corner was so arbitrary and willfully obscured with little payoff.
― Carnegie Felon (Leee), Saturday, 30 April 2022 19:56 (two years ago) link
xps I am indeed the Tas Matt - switched accounts to shake my work email, but just discovered my iPad was logged in as the old user so have been posting as matthewk too. and yes, being a non-American I absolutely hated the Saturday puzzle.
― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 30 April 2022 21:09 (two years ago) link
it’s saturday and one expects hard cluing but yeah, 1A is just fucking with ppl
― mookieproof, Saturday, 30 April 2022 22:10 (two years ago) link
Oh yeah, took me forever to get that right.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 30 April 2022 22:38 (two years ago) link
By the way, there's a major kerfuffle today because NYT messed up the coding on an otherwise very nice puzzle.
I (and many others) struggled with getting the website to recognize that it had been solved correctly. Some people gave up in frustration and broke streaks by using check, only to discover that they had not made any mistakes, it just was picky about what it would accept, and it wasn't consistent platform to platform. IPad and iPhone users reported different results from Android and PC users; ultimately switching browsers worked for me but it took an extra 20 minutes of trial and error.
What sux is that I actually really liked the gimmick! Just poor technical execution made it frustrating. Anyway try hyphens, spaces, Xes, the word "nothing," the word "blank," and the letters from the phrase SPACE OUT, surely one of those strategies will work for you.
― Fifty Centaur (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 1 May 2022 14:00 (two years ago) link
Yes, I discussed this last night elsewhere.
― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 1 May 2022 15:13 (two years ago) link
The Wordplay comments are on FIRE.
― Fifty Centaur (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 1 May 2022 15:41 (two years ago) link
Hyphens worked for me on the iPhone app. I don’t have much of a streak going so didn’t really mind today’s but can see how it might annoy others. It was quite a nice, breezy Sunday puzzle I thought.
― Roz, Sunday, 1 May 2022 15:47 (two years ago) link
Usually when I’ve got everything right but it’s telling me I’m wrong it’s because my fat fingers have mistyped so yeah I combed a few times before I realised there must be a glitch & googled
― gop on ya gingrich (wins), Sunday, 1 May 2022 15:48 (two years ago) link
Based on my knowledge of the, um, addictive nature of gamification and streaks I can only imagine how upset people are.
― Wile E. Is President (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 1 May 2022 15:50 (two years ago) link
tbh if you have a significant streak you should know better
the gimmick was obvious enough, and so was the fact that the app(s) might be touchy about it
― mookieproof, Sunday, 1 May 2022 15:59 (two years ago) link
I’m quite new to this, finally gave in & got the sub to do the spelling bee thing & started doing this despite not really getting on with us style xwords previously - I still on the whole find them less satisfying/interesting than uk cryptics but there are moments of inspiration that wouldn’t be possible with the latter, the worst thing tho is that the lack of black squares means that the same answers have to come up over and over againThe relative easiness also makes it dangerously addictive (I’ve done 15 daily puzzles since I joined but 69 total, you can just blast through the archive) and echoing recent posts the existence of “stats” and timing is toxic
― gop on ya gingrich (wins), Sunday, 1 May 2022 16:01 (two years ago) link