Sunday, 7/17/11

NYT (p) 8:38 ... LAT (p) 6:34 ... MR (p) 6:08 ... BG (p) 5:26 ... ND (p) 6:48 ... CS (p) 2:52 ... WP (p) 4:13 ... Acrostic 4:32

Taking the day off, possibly tomorrow too.

6 comments:

Joon said...

acrostic 4:38. just so you know, the gauntlet has been thrown down. although it was so easy, i'm kicking myself for not going faster.

Dan said...

Dayum! I wonder if there's an acrostic applet speed-solving technique that I haven't figured out (not that I've tried), because you shouldn't be beating me on EVERY one... :)

Joon said...

i don't beat you on every one. i haven't kept official track, but it feels like 2/3ish. that said, acrostics play a little more to my particular strengths, i think.

not as much as kaidoku, though. it's too bad they don't exist any more, because as far as i could tell, there was nobody who was doing those as fast as me. i assume there are people who could, though (tyler, jangler, ... ?).

as for acrostics in the applet, i don't have any particular technique (although i guess i use the mouse, unlike when i speed-solve in AL. but i think there's no alternative, right?). but any time i can slap down more than half the answers on the first pass, i know it's going to be a sprint. the easiest puzzles take me only three passes (clues, quote, clues). that almost never happens, but four is fairly common.

Dan said...

Recently, seems like more than 2/3...

I tend to jump back and forth between the clues and quote, after my first pass at the clues. And I know I'm not great at guessing long answers without any given letters.

Dan said...

Well, I consciously tried to go faster on the acrostic - remembered to use the arrow keys to scroll through clues, and didn't jump back and forth so much. Et voila!

Joon said...

i'm going to take credit for pushing you to the finish line there.