I finally finished the NYT Sunday Crossword puzzle....

[CTyankee]

I did "research" online and hubby said that's cheating. But I did finish...proud I am.

[oldtime dfl_er]

1. good for you

Did you do it in ink?

[CTyankee]

2. Yes. ballpoint pen. Makes for very messy corrections, tho.

Do you try these NYT Sunday puzzles?

[oldtime dfl_er]

3. I used to do them

but I don't subscribe anymore. The Sunday one was a huge treat, especially satisfying when you *suddenly* figured out the theme. I miss it. But doing it in ink is supposed to be a hallmark of greatness.

[femmocrat]

4. I manage to complete one every now and then.

Once I catch on to their gimmick of the week, I can usually get most of it at least.

"Research" is not cheating; it is learning!

[unblock]

5. it's not cheating if you acknowledge you did "research". in fact, that's called "learning".

better luck next time.


mrs. unblock once signed me up (over my objections) for the annual new york times crossword puzzle competition with will shortz.

back when i lived in new jersey and worked in the world financial center, i tried to do the nytimes crossword puzzle during the roughly 8 minute ferry crossing. after a few years i was able to do mondays almost always, tuesday usually, and Wednesdays rarely. after that, forget it.

the competition uses the monday, tuesday, and wednesday puzzles from the *following* week (i.e., the future puzzles no one's seen yet), so i had some hope, but this was years later and i was way out of practice. but it was fun anyway.

during the competition, i spent 3 hours talking with the people at my table between rounds. people kept coming up to one of them and shaking his hand and thanking him for all he's done. i honestly had no idea who he was. we had just moved to connecticut so i guess he was a former mayor or something.

afterward mrs. unblock said she was impressed how super cool i was just casually chatting with phil donahue....

!!!

[CTyankee]

6. hubby does the daily ones and I gave him a hard time...

"those are the easy ones...."

[unblock]

7. Early in the week, sure; but Friday is way harder than sunday

It's usually not too hard to get enough to get the Sunday theme, and that's a big, big help.

[CTyankee]

8. I'll check and see if he's doing the harder ones later in the week or weaseling out with the

one from our New Haven Register which are in various local papers and ridiculously easy...

[Skittles]

9. you want I should kick your hubbie's naysaying ass, CTyankee?

LEMME AT HIM!!!

[planetc]

10. I do the Times Sunday puzzle, and researching is not cheating. Will shortz disagrees with me.

Anyhow, I've doing them since the 1970s, and what you needed to finish the puzzles in those ancient days, was a better-than-decent general vocabulary, and some knowledge of classic books, and a bit of knowledge of opera lore. But these days, you have to know all of the above, plus all sorts of rap artists, sports heroes, cyber lingo, and other fearfully contemporary stuff that I don't follow for its own sake. So I figure that if the puzzle setters are going to be snarky about it, then I get to resort to self defense, and look some of this stuff up. Ideally, you should persist, and get the answers you didn't know from getting all the cross words. But you have situations where two names or words you really don't know cross each other, and then, imho, you have no choice but to research. It's guerrilla war between me and the setters, and I intend to be just as sneaky as they are. I remember asking a fellow bus rider whether there was a sports award called an "Espy." There was. It's all useful knowledge for us word warriors.

And congratulations on finishing the Sunday puzzle. Don't be afraid. Do another!

[CTyankee]

11. I know. Google is my friend. Then there is Rex Parker with his solutions online to the puzzles...

so I decided I would just peek at maybe one or two answers. Just to get ahead of a real block. For example, I just couldn't get past the clue "Penguin and others" and I was frantic trying to find the animal reference...and it turned out it had to do with "Publishers"! Oh, shit! I felt cheated!

[planetc]

12. Google is our friend.

One thing I find helpful is to remember how many meanings and parts of speech one word can have and be--you can bet the puzzle setters do. I think "Is this a noun or a verb?" Then I can sometimes get it and think (at the puzzle setters) "Hah! Gotcha!" It is one of the minor pleasures of doing crosswords.

[pinboy3niner]

13. I used to LOVE doing the Sunday crossword

I always looked forward to spending 2 or 3 hours with coffee and the puzzle. And I was GOOD at it. Didn't use internet, but sometimes would consult my dictionary or world atlas.

I've been away from that for a long time now, but for a while I became obsessed with Friday Art Challenges instead. The tough ones I would stay up all night trying to solve. Sometimes into Saturday and even Sunday. That was often a real challenge, better than a crossword.

If I had to choose, I'd pick your Friday Art Challenges, every time.

[CTyankee]

14. thanks. I loved doing them but reality has now gotten in the way...disabled husband and

my own health challenges...

[pinboy3niner]

15. I hear you

I normally avoid posting here about my own health challenges, but as much as I would love to do international travels like yours that is probably not in the cards for me these days. I used to do protests and marches in L.A. but even going down to L.A. to do a march is problematic. I have to load up on a ton of Ibuprofen just to go to the supermarket.

I hope things improve for you in the future.

[CTyankee]

16. i'll keep my head up....you do the same!

[panader0]

17. I do the Sunday NYT puzzle every week.

When I first met Jeannie about 18 years ago she told me that she was the
"queen of crosswords". As a bricklayer, I wanted to let her know that I had
some smarts. So I challenged her to a crossword contest. When I finished,
she wasn't even half way done. 18 years now and counting....

[lame54]

18. what year?