NOT A FAQ

What's all this, then?

I started using this "blog" in late 2008 to keep track of my daily crossword solving times, because I didn't know how to make a fancy spreadsheet. In late 2011, I began posting a public daily spreadsheet so that other solvers could post their times alongside mine.

How does it work?

Weeknights at 10 PM Eastern, and weekends at 6 PM Eastern (coinciding with the online release of the New York Times crossword), a post goes up with a link to the day's spreadsheet. Click the "Add your times here" link to visit the Google Drive spreadsheet and share your solving times. Everybody is welcome to contribute at any time, regardless of skill level.

What are the letters and numbers?

The letters are the crossword's publisher, and the numbers are the solving time in minutes and seconds.

Here's the rundown of the crosswords we track in the spreadsheets. The blog sidebar (and/or Google searching) can help you find these puzzles. ($) means that you have to pay for it.

Current puzzles:
NYT (daily) - New York Times, edited by Will Shortz ($)
LAT (daily) - Los Angeles Times, edited by Rich Norris
ND (daily) - Newsday, edited by Stanley Newman
UC (daily) - Universal Crossword, edited by David Steinberg
WSJ (Monday-Saturday) - Wall Street Journal, edited by Mike Shenk
BEQ (Monday & Thursday) - indie puzzles by Brendan Emmett Quigley
TNY (Monday & Friday) - The New Yorker
JON/Jones (Tuesday) - Jonesin', syndicated alt-weekly by Matt Jones, edited by Matt Gaffney
AR (Tuesday) - Aries Puzzles, Rows Garden puzzles by Andrew Ries ($)
JP (Tuesdays and alternate Mondays) - "Outside the Box" Rows Garden and variety puzzles by Joon Pahk and others ($)
MB (alternate Tuesdays) - "Garden Party" Rows Garden puzzles by Michael Blake ($)
AVC (Wednesday) - American Values Club, edited by Ben Tausig ($)
TC (Wednesday & Saturday) - "Club 72" indie puzzles by Tim Croce
AR (Wednesday & Thursday) - Aries XWord by Andrew Ries (some $)
WN (Thursday) - "Bewilderingly" indie puzzles by Will Nediger ($)
FB (Thursday) - Fireball Crosswords, edited by Peter Gordon ($)
MGWC (Friday) - Matt Gaffney's Weekly Crossword Contest ($)
CHE (Friday) - Chronicle of Higher Education, edited by Brad Wilber
Ink (alternate Fridays) - The Inkubator, edited by Laura Braunstein & Tracy Bennett ($)
FNC (alternate Fridays) - Fireball Newsweekly Crosswords by Peter Gordon ($)
WSJ2nd (Saturday) - Wall Street Journal variety puzzle, by Mike Shenk, Patrick Berry, and Cox & Rathvon
WP (Sunday) - Washington Post Magazine by Evan Birnholz
UCS (Sunday) - Universal Sunday, edited by David Steinberg
NYT2nd (Sunday) - New York Times "second Sunday" puzzle, edited by Will Shortz ($)
NYTPB (Sunday) - New York Times "A Little Variety" puzzle, by Patrick Berry ($)
AK (intermittently) - "Cruciverbalist at Law" indie puzzles by Andy Kravis
TM (intermittently) - "Unthemely" indie puzzles by Todd McClary
EA (intermittently) - "Glutton for Pun" indie puzzles by Erik Agard
MMMM (monthly) - Muller Monthly Music Meta by Pete Muller

Former puzzles:
SUN (weekdays) - New York Sun, edited by Peter Gordon
CS (daily) - CrosSynergy syndicate, edited by the member constructors
BF (Monday-Friday) - BuzzFeed, edited by Caleb Madison
GK (Monday) - "Grid Kid" indie puzzles by Sam Ezersky
BT/Tausig (Tuesday) - Ink Well, syndicated alt-weekly by Ben Tausig
TO (Tuesday) - The Onion/AV Club, edited by Ben Tausig
BG/CRooked (Sunday, 21x21) - Boston Globe, by Henry Hook and Emily Cox & Henry Rathvon
NF (Friday) - indie puzzles by Neville Fogarty
WP (Sunday) - Washington Post Puzzler, edited by Peter Gordon
MR/Reagle (Sunday) - syndicated puzzle by Merl Reagle
LATB - LA Times Sunday Calendar puzzle by Sylvia Bursztyn
DC (Saturday) - "Devil Cross" indie puzzles by Evan Birnholz
PB2 (monthly) - indie puzzles by Patrick Blindauer

paper or (p) - indicates solving with pencil/paper, as opposed to Across Lite.
(c) - indicates solving with computer, as opposed to paper.
* - indicates that the time "doesn't count" due to errors, cheating, computer snafu, or other circumstance.

And you are...?

Dan Feyer, eight-time American Crossword Puzzle Tournament champion. Born and raised in San Francisco, I attended Princeton University and lived in New York City for 14 years before moving back to S.F. in 2014. I'm a musical theater pianist with a long resume as a music director/conductor/orchestrator in New York and regional theaters. Since discovering the puzzle community in 2007, I've published four crosswords in the New York Times, written three books of word search puzzles, and worked extensively as a crossword test-solver and proofreader. I can be reached at "danfeyer at hotmail".

(updated September 2019)