Sunday, 5/1/11

NYT 5:34 ... LAT 4:20 ... MR 4:47 ... BG 4:16 ... ND 3:12 ... CS 1:59 ... WP 2:47 ... Split Decisions (p) 6:40

Saturday, 4/30/11

NYT 4:28 ... LAT 3:18 ... CS 1:39 ... ND 3:51 ... Spell Weaving (p) 6:30 ... AR #22 (p) 14:25

Friday, 4/29/11

NYT 2:29 ... LAT 2:23 ... CS 1:52 ... ND 1:53 ... CHE 2:29 ... WSJ 4:51 ... MGWC 4:45

CrosSynergy times are back. Alex pointed out this converter that will convert .jpz to .puz, which I encourage everyone to use, if only to stick it to Litsoft.

Matt Ginsberg made a convincing post to cruciverb-l a couple days ago suggesting that Litsoft has no legal leg to stand on in trying to eradicate their fifteen-year-old, unpatented intellectual property from the marketplace. I mean, are they going to break into my computer and take Across Lite from me? I've still got a crapload of old .puz files to solve, and I'm not going to use Puzzle Solver.

Speaking of which, I'm glad to see that Antony Lewis is indeed working on improvements to his solver. Though I can't imagine I'll have any reason to switch, unless every other outlet is frightened into abandoning .puz. (eta: that's not a swipe at CrosSynergy - I'm sure it would have been expensive to put up a legal fight.)

Thursday, 4/28/11

NYT 2:06 ... LAT 2:01 ... CS 1:33 ... ND 1:50 ... BEQ 2:42 ... FB (p) 5:33 ... AR #21 (p) 14:30

Wednesday, 4/27/11

NYT 2:08 ... LAT 1:58 ... CS 1:48 ... ND 1:31

Tuesday, 4/26/11

NYT 1:54 ... LAT 1:50 ... CS 2:04 ... ND 1:26 ... BT 2:26 ... TO 2:31

Monday, 4/25/11

NYT 1:54 ... LAT 1:33 ... CS 1:40 ... ND 1:36 ... JON 2:13 ... BEQ 3:47

Sunday, 4/24/11

NYT 4:41 ... LAT 3:56 ... MR 4:45 ... BG 4:27 ... ND 3:32 ... CS 1:46 ... WP 2:50 ... Acrostic 5:55

Saturday, 4/23/11

NYT 3:03 ... LAT 3:06 ... CS tba? ... ND 4:21 ... Hex Cryptic (p) 14:10

Is it the end of the line for CrosSynergy .puz files? If so, I'll hold my nose and solve selectively (e.g. Blindauer, Peterson, Klahn, Sundays) but won't be posting times anymore.

Friday, 4/22/11

NYT 3:08 ... LAT 2:35 ... CS 1:27 ... ND 2:36 ... CHE 2:16 ... WSJ 4:00 ... MGWC 3:12 ... AR #20 (p) 18:30

Thursday, 4/21/11

NYT 2:40 ... LAT 2:13 ... CS 1:28 ... ND 1:40 ... BEQ 2:58 ... FB (p) 4:40

I'll do puzzles in the afternoon, but meanwhile here's the story that aired today on WDET, Detroit's NPR station.

Wednesday, 4/20/11

NYT 1:47 ... LAT 1:57 ... CS 1:53 ... ND 1:32

Tuesday, 4/19/11

NYT 1:30 ... LAT 1:24 ... CS 1:46 ... ND 1:16 ... BT 2:11 ... TO 3:01

Monday, 4/18/11

NYT 1:27 ... LAT 1:33 ... CS 1:35 ... ND 1:20 ... JON 2:36 ... BEQ 3:37

Sunday, 4/17/11

NYT 7:15 ... LAT 5:39 ... MR 3:51 ... BG 4:55 ... ND 3:31 ... CS 2:01 ... WP 3:16 ... P&A hahaha

Caught up with the last few days. For the record, put me down for loving the Fireball this week.

Saturday, 4/9/11

NYT 4:10 ... LAT 3:07 ... CS 2:16 ... ND 3:35 ... Rows Garden (p) 19:00

That reminds me that I haven't posted Aries Puzzles times in a while. The last two I did were #18 and #19, both in bed while slightly groggy, both on the hard side at 30 minutes-plus. Hope others are enjoying those weekly Rows Gardens, even if like me, you can't always keep up with them...

Friday, 4/15/11

NYT 2:51 ... LAT 2:19 ... CS 1:49 ... ND 2:24 ... CHE 1:38 ... WSJ 4:02 ... BEQ/JH 3:03 ... MGWC (p) 4:45

Managed to find some time tonight, but probably won't be back until Saturday.

Thursday, 4/14/11

NYT 2:54 ... LAT 2:09 ... CS 1:52 ... ND 1:47 ... BEQ 2:08 ... FB (p) 5:23

I'm experiencing technical difficulties and short on time this morning. May end up waiting until Monday to catch up.

Wednesday, 4/13/11

NYT 2:18 ... LAT 1:47 ... CS 1:41 ... ND 1:43

Tuesday, 4/12/11

NYT 1:39 ... LAT 1:50 ... CS 1:27 ... ND 1:32 ... BT 2:33 ... TO 2:35

Monday, 4/11/11

NYT (p) 2:00 ... LAT 1:24 ... CS 1:47 ... ND 1:14 ... JON 2:42 ... BEQ 3:42

Solved the NYT in a radio studio at WDET in Detroit. My "competitor" (Morning Edition host Pat Batcheller, a puzzle fan) was narrating his own solving progress, and the grid was printed on the top right, but I managed a good enough showing. WDET will air the piece about me sometime next week.

Sunday, 4/10/11

NYT (p) 8:07 ... LAT 4:30 ... MR 3:14 ... BG 3:48 ... ND 3:06 ... CS 2:01 ... WP 4:46 ... Acrostic 5:10

Probably won't be getting to Sunday's puzzles until Monday evening. And if not, it'll be Wednesday.

Monday afternoon I'm doing an interview with Detroit's NPR station, WDET, wherein I'll solve the Sunday and Monday NYT puzzles in front of the reporter. Will let everyone know when that's on the radio and online.

Saturday, 4/9/11

NYT 4:55 ... LAT 2:16 ... CS 1:57 ... ND 4:49 ... Acrostic 8:55

Friday, 4/8/11

NYT 3:46 ... LAT 3:11 ... CS 1:40 ... ND 2:02 ... CHE 2:23 ... WSJ 3:48 ... MGWC 2:53

Thursday, 4/7/11

NYT 2:40 ... LAT 2:17 ... CS 1:35 ... ND 1:49 ... BEQ 2:30 ... FB 3:01

Wednesday, 4/6/11

NYT 2:04 ... LAT 1:49 ... CS 1:42 ... ND 1:38

Tuesday, 4/5/11

NYT 2:02 ... LAT 1:34 ... CS 1:35 ... ND 1:21 ... BT 3:20 ... TO 3:11

Monday, 4/4/11

NYT 1:31 ... LAT 1:29 ... CS 1:35 ... ND 1:29 ... JON 2:16 ... BEQ 3:13

I should have been clearer with yesterday's gripe! I'll keep solving the CS as long as there's a .puz available, but once that dries up I imagine I'll just drop it rather than get frustrated with a different solving program.

Sunday, 4/3/11

NYT 5:44 ... LAT 4:34 ... MR 4:00 ... BG 4:47 ... ND 3:24 ... CS untimed ... WP 4:20 ... Diagramless (p) 7:05

I tried out Crossword Solver for the first time, to solve the CS puzzle. I think it's going to be the last time, because that program seriously stinks. Sorry to say it, but I'm not going to bother solving CrosSynergy puzzles anymore until the situation changes.

Saturday, 4/2/11

NYT 4:25 ... LAT 2:45 ... CS 1:41 ... ND 4:46 ... Riding the Waves (p) 9:25

I tried to post this last night, but couldn't - I just upgraded from IE 8 to IE 9 because of issues with other sites, and for some reason the "Publish Post" button here wouldn't work in IE 9. Anyway, the upshot is that I'm finally using a grown-up browser (Chrome).

Friday, 4/1/11

NYT 7:19 ... LAT 4:11 ... CS 1:50 ... ND 2:12 ... CHE 2:19 ... WSJ 4:44 ... MGWC 4:21 ... PB2 3:33 ... RP 3:20