Sunday, 1/31/10

NYT (p) 6:56 ... LAT (p) 6:05 ... MR (p) 6:46 ... BG (p) 7:43 ... ND (p) 6:15 ... CS (p) 2:19 ... Acrostic 7:45

Saturday, 1/30/10

NYT (p) 6:27 ... LAT (p) 3:01 ... CS (p) 2:20 ... ND (p) 4:31 ... Acrostic 5:20

Friday, 1/29/10

NYT 5:13 ... LAT 2:08 ... CS 2:00 ... ND 2:20 ... BEQ 3:10 ... WSJ 4:20 ... DB 3:55 ... MGWC 6:46

Thursday, 1/28/10

NYT (p) 5:01 ... LAT (p) 3:06 ... CS (p) 2:13 ... ND (p) 2:05 ... FB (p) 4:11

Wednesday, 1/27/10

NYT (p) 2:47 ... LAT (p) 2:23 ... CS (p) 3:13 ... ND (p) 2:07 ... BEQ (p) 3:47

Tuesday, 1/26/10

NYT (p) 2:15 ... LAT (p) 2:20 ... CS (p) 2:44 ... ND (p) 1:45 ... BT (p) 3:36 ... TO (p) 2:48

Monday, 1/25/10

NYT (p) 2:14 ... LAT (p) 1:59 ... CS (p) 2:14 ... ND (p) 1:45 ... JON (p) 3:02 ... BEQ (p) 5:11

Good news: I caught up with a lot of the weekend's puzzles, and posted decent times even though I'm tired and as rusty as I've ever been. (OK, not so rusty anymore after personal bests on Sun/Mon Newsday.) Bad news: couldn't finish the Saturday Stumper! I gave up after spending 5 minutes trying for a toehold in the NE.

Sunday, 1/24/10

NYT 5:47 ... LAT (p) 5:51 ... MR (p) 6:14 ... BG (p) 8:07 ... ND (p) 4:51 ... CS (p) 2:52 ... Going Too Far (p) 6:40

Still don't know when I'll catch up, since I want to be solving on paper - but I had to see what the NYT's special grid was about.

(Decided to save Merl's puzzle for next week, and solve both halves of the two-parter back-to-back!)

Saturday, 1/23/10

NYT (p) 4:43 ... LAT (p) 3:09 ... CS (p) 2:17 ... ND (p) 15:00 when I gave up ... WSJ Snowflake tba

Alas, I didn't have time to solve today either...

Friday, 1/22/10

NYT (p) 4:26 ... LAT (p) 3:11 ... CS (p) 2:10 ... ND (p) 2:22 ... CHE (p) 2:42 ... BEQ (p) 3:43 ... WSJ (p) 7:33 ... DB (p) 5:58 ... MGWC 5:04

This week I ended up with a day job, a night job, and a sort of unpaid consulting job, and I don't feel like doing the Friday puzzles tonight... I'll hit the weekend bonanza tomorrow night.

Been too busy lately to do any special prep for the ACPT -- and not anxious for a crossword binge anyway -- but after next week things will cool down and I can start ramping it up. Hey, someone's going to beat Tyler (eventually), and it might as well be me, right?

Thursday, 1/21/10

NYT 3:10 ... LAT 1:46 ... CS 1:42 ... ND 1:54 ... FB 6:10

Wednesday, 1/20/10

NYT 2:02 ... LAT 1:43 ... CS 1:39 ... ND 1:44 ... BEQ 2:21

Tuesday, 1/19/10

NYT (p) 2:50 ... LAT (p) 2:25 ... CS (p) 2:22 ... ND (p) 1:55 ... BT 2:33 ... TO 3:23

Monday, 1/18/10

NYT (p) 2:12 ... LAT 1:36 ... CS 1:44 ... ND 1:14 ... JON (p) 3:03 ... BEQ 4:08

Sunday, 1/17/10

NYT (p) 7:50 ... LAT (p) 7:12 ... MR (p) 6:58 ... BG (p) 6:20 ... ND (p) 5:12 ... LATB (p) 6:45 ... CS (p) 3:05 ... Acrostic tba

Saturday, 1/16/10

NYT (p) 6:05* ... LAT (p) 3:16 ... CS (p) 2:14 ... ND (p) 8:01

I ended up with HYSOP and MILAP in the NYT... probably would have figured it out quickly if I had Across Lite telling me there was a mistake.

Friday, 1/15/10

NYT (p) 4:40 ... LAT (p) 2:53 ... CS (p) 3:19 ... ND (p) 3:01 ... CHE (p) 2:57 ... BEQ (p) 3:56 ... WSJ (p) 6:58 ... DB (p) 5:22 ... MGWC 2:56

Solved during breaks at work today... I'll catch up with the rest tomorrow.

Thursday, 1/14/10

NYT 2:56 ... LAT 2:03 ... CS 1:33 ... ND 2:02 ... FB 9:25

Fireball has arrived! It was as tough as I'd been promised...

Wednesday, 1/13/10

NYT 1:51 ... LAT 2:25 ... CS 1:40 ... ND 1:32 ... BEQ 2:51

Tuesday, 1/12/10

NYT 2:00 ... LAT 1:58 ... CS 1:50 ... ND 1:30 ... BT 2:33 ... TO 2:24

Monday, 1/11/10

NYT 1:45 ... LAT 1:50 ... CS 1:48 ... ND 1:31 ... JON 2:36 ... BEQ 4:08

Sunday, 1/10/10

NYT 7:32 ... LAT 5:00 ... BG 6:40 ... MR 6:02 ... ND 5:07 ... LATB 5:10 ... CS 2:45 ... Cryptic 10:10

Saturday, 1/9/10

NYT 3:15 ... LAT 2:17 ... CS 1:40 ... ND 4:41

Friday, 1/8/10

NYT 5:15 ... LAT 2:36 ... CS 1:57 ... ND 2:45 ... CHE 2:28 ... BEQ 5:12 ... WSJ 4:53 ... DB 4:44 ... MGWC 5:47

For the first time since I quit the applet in favor of Across Lite, I had an error -- I resisted using the Check button so that my time would be legit, because why is anyone visiting here except to compare times, right? I was sure something was wrong with PIERRE The Unknown Poet, but it turned out instead that LUBINA is not a car. Two bad guesses that stayed in too long: ARRIBA for Speedy Gonzales and SEXY for [Daring...].

afternoon update: In addition to that weird blooper in the CHE puzzle, the NE corner of the (otherwise great) Newsday puzzle is screwed up - Stan seems to have changed the corner, but not the clues!

Thursday, 1/7/10

NYT 3:46 ... LAT 2:05 ... CS 1:48 ... ND 1:35

Wednesday, 1/6/10

NYT 2:32 ... LAT 1:42 ... CS 2:10 ... ND 1:36 ... BEQ 3:20

Tuesday, 1/5/10

NYT 2:01 ... LAT 1:46 ... CS 1:50 ... ND 1:33 ... BT 2:54 ... TO 2:48

Flying back to freezing NYC today!

I'm not going to try estimating the number of crosswords I did in 2009 -- because it would be harder to guess than last year, and because I'm afraid it will approach last year's total. Instead, How I Spent My Winter Vacation: my tally from December 20th to January 5th, not including the daily puzzles. (updated after the 10 hours of travel)

Exactly 4 months of old NYT crosswords (paper)** ... 32 Simon & Schuster (book) ... 13 NY Sun (book) ... 15 Newsday (computer) ... 12 Slate (computer) ... 20 assorted variety puzzles ... 14 straight cryptics ... 7 variety cryptics ... and a suite by Puzzability! You're supposed to sing that last one.

** This is the the only explicit training I'm doing for the ACPT -- printing out every puzzle from 2002 and speed-solving them.

Monday, 1/4/10

NYT 1:37 ... LAT 1:32 ... CS 2:01 ... ND 1:17 ... JON 2:16 ... BEQ 3:57

Sunday, 1/3/10

NYT (p) 8:51 ... LAT 4:56 ... MR (p) 8:00 ... BG (p) 7:18 ... ND 3:55 ... CS 4:58 ... Acrostic 12:20

Dan Naddor's LAT grid made my jaw drop. Eleven theme answers plus crazy corner stacks? I'm glad he had a zillion more puzzles in the LAT queue, but I'm going to be sad all over again when we see his name every week. (For any readers who missed the news)

Saturday, 1/2/10

NYT (p) 7:16 ... LAT (p) 3:07 ... CS 1:51 ... ND 4:50

Friday, 1/1/10

NYT 3:55 ... LAT 2:01 ... CS 1:54 ... ND 2:17 ... BEQ 4:05 ... WSJ 5:41 ... DB 4:35 ... MGWC 5:27

Wow, Twenty-Ten.