Saturday, 2/27/10

NYT 4:10 ... LAT 3:25 ... CS 1:36 ... ND 6:45 ... Acrostic 8:40

Finished catching up with the week's puzzles! Working on an ACPT post. (Nope, instead I'm off to a last-minute gig... will I ever write about the ACPT?)

Friday, 2/26/10

NYT 5:37 ... LAT 1:51 ... CS 1:47 ... ND 2:03 ... CHE 3:05 ... BEQ 2:32 ... WSJ 5:14 ... MGWC 3:14

Got quite stuck in the NW of the NYT puzzle. Had to remove MET from 6-Down and stop thinking of authors for 1-Across...

Thursday, 2/25/10

NYT 3:39 ... LAT 2:15 ... CS 2:22 ... ND 2:04 ... FB 3:57

Wednesday, 2/24/10

NYT 2:15 ... LAT 1:47 ... CS 1:53 ... ND 1:40 ... BEQ 1:57

Still way behind in life - my ACPT post will have to wait until after my Thursday night gig, for which I'm way underprepared...

Tuesday, 2/23/10

NYT 1:55 ... LAT 1:41 ... CS 1:44 ... ND 1:34 ... BT 2:30 ... TO 3:22

Yeah, that's all I have today. Sorry. Get used to it, new readers!

Monday, 2/22/10

NYT 1:40 ... LAT 1:35 ... CS 1:36 ... ND 1:20 ... JON 2:12 ... BEQ 3:55

Still wiped out from the weekend, still surprised at how well it went. I still have to clean up my inbox and read tournament writeups (and talk to a reporter or two... nope, just one) (nope, two!), but I hope to expand this post before heading to work. (and that's not gonna happen, so check back tomorrow)

Sunday, 2/21/10: Dan Does Not Lose

NYT 5:15 ... LAT 5:36 ... MR 5:02 ... BG 5:38 ... ND 3:33 ... LATB 4:52 ... CS 2:33 ... Cryptic untimed

It's over, and I won. Yay! Of course, I'll work on a writeup, and of course, it'll take me a couple days. Thanks for your support...

Saturday, 2/20/10: ACPT Begins

NYT 3:20 ... LAT 2:44 ... CS 1:23 ... ND 5:37 ... Traveling Cases untimed

Day one and I'm in first place! Where have I heard that before? At least I have a larger cushion, and it would take a lot for me to blow a chance at the finals. Feeling good about the final stumper, because my lead today came entirely from the hardest puzzle. So I guess I'm more optimistic than yesterday...

Friday, 2/19/10

NYT (p) 5:42 ... LAT (p) 3:19 ... CS (p) 3:21 ... ND (p) 2:50 ... CHE (p) 3:31 ... WSJ (p) 6:13 ... MGWC 3:51

ACPT Predictions! I do not think I will win. Low expectations all the way! Most likely to make the finals, other than myself: Howard, Tyler, Francis. And of course, Joon wins the B Division. I'll be heading to Brooklyn Friday afternoon... not likely to post much here (other than times) until Monday. Can't wait to see you all!

Thursday, 2/18/10

NYT (p) 4:28 ... LAT (p) 2:54 ... CS (p) 2:15 ... ND (p) 2:03 ... FB (p) 4:28

Wednesday, 2/17/10

NYT (p) 2:48 ... LAT (p) 2:16 ... CS (p) 2:40 ... ND (p) 2:14 ... BEQ (p) 5:37*

Another error on the BEQ -- could not parse 11-Down. Ouch! At least the ACPT training is going fine... dipping into the old Maura Jacobson omnibus, hitting more old NYT puzzles, finishing Take Flight Crosswords with those 17x17s, and re-solving NYT themelesses that I've mostly forgotten.

Tuesday, 2/16/10

NYT (p) 2:22 ... LAT (p) 2:15 ... CS (p) 2:12 ... ND (p) 1:52 ... BT (p) 3:06 ... TO (p) 3:34

Getting caught up today! I haven't even solved the last two WSJ Saturday puzzles, but this week is for tournament training.

Monday, 2/15/10

NYT (p) 2:07 ... LAT (p) 2:05 ... CS (p) 2:11 ... ND (p) 2:05 ... JON (p) 4:08 ... BEQ (p) 3:47*

Had an error in the BEQ - does ETNA'S Goldfish sound like a logical band name? And I got held up in the freestyle Jonesin' because I wrote a K instead of a G at the bottom of 1-Down.

Sunday, 2/14/10

NYT (p) 7:10 ... LAT (p) 7:15 ... MR (p) 6:28 ... BG (p) 5:58 ... ND (p) 5:30 ... CS (p) 2:37 ... Acrostic 7:15

Valentine's trumps puzzles today! I probably won't catch up until Tuesday.

Saturday, 2/13/10

NYT (p) 6:26 ... LAT (p) 3:15 ... CS (p) 2:24 ... ND (p) 6:41 ... Hex Cryptic untimed

Friday, 2/12/10

NYT (p) 5:01 ... LAT (p) 2:40 ... CS 1:30 ... ND 2:11 ... CHE (p) 2:27 ... BEQ 2:24 ... WSJ (p) 6:37 ... DB (p) 6:23 ... MGWC 2:34

I wasn't going to solve tonight, because I'm tired and have an early morning tomorrow. But I peeked at who had the NYT puzzle, and literally exclaimed "Holy shit!" when I saw the grid. Outstanding! Liz Gorski's got a tour-de-force in the WSJ, too.

Thursday, 2/11/10

NYT (p) 4:07 ... LAT (p) 2:39 ... CS (p) 2:17 ... ND 1:47 ... FB (p) 5:05

Wednesday, 2/10/10

NYT (p) 2:39 ... LAT (p) 2:37 ... CS (p) 2:14 ... ND (p) 2:15 ... BEQ (p) 3:05

Tuesday, 2/9/10

NYT (p) 2:21 ... LAT (p) 2:08 ... CS (p) 2:35 ... ND (p) 1:44 ... BT (p) 3:52 ... TO (p) 3:00

Monday, 2/8/10

NYT 1:39 ... LAT 1:25 ... CS 2:32 ... ND 1:20 ... JON (p) 3:03 ... BEQ (p) 3:07

After doing all 8 Sunday puzzles on paper, I had no desire to print out any more...

Sunday, 2/7/10

NYT (p) 9:14 ... LAT (p) 5:14 ... MR (p) 6:02 ... BG (p) 6:46 ... ND (p) 5:44 ... LATB (p) 5:46 ... CS (p) 3:41 ... Diagramless (p) 10:52

Saturday, 2/6/10

NYT (p) 6:55 ... LAT (p) 3:51 ... CS (p) 2:12 ... ND (p) 5:03 ... Rows Garden not gonna time it

Friday, 2/5/10

NYT (p) 5:05 ... LAT (p) 3:12 ... CS (p) 2:21 ... ND (p) 2:23 ... CHE (p) 3:49 ... BEQ (p) 3:54 ... WSJ (p) 6:52 ... DB (p) 6:20 ... MGWC 2:11

Thursday, 2/4/10

NYT (p) 3:30 ... LAT (p) 2:18 ... CS (p) 1:59 ... ND (p) 2:13 ... FB (p) 6:00

Wednesday, 2/3/10

NYT (p) 2:22 ... LAT (p) 2:14 ... CS (p) 2:03 ... ND (p) 2:02 ... BEQ (p) 3:13

Expect end-of-day posting for the rest of the week...

Tuesday, 2/2/10

NYT (p) 2:22 ... LAT (p) 3:00 ... CS (p) 2:20 ... ND (p) 2:02 ... BT (p) 3:16 ... TO (p) 3:16 ... FB (p) 4:36

Today's my last day (for now) working at Sterling Publishing. Last Wednesday I took home an advance copy of The Wrath of Klahn Crosswords, a compilation of Bob Klahn's Sunday Challenges for CrosSynergy. Even though I've only been solving on the subway and during rehearsals, I've already made it through 55 of the 72 puzzles, and plan to finish it up this week. Guess I'll be ready if Klahn is constructing for the ACPT...

Wed. update: Both of Tausig's puzzles took me the same time... is there a connection to Oceanic Flight 316??!?!

Monday, 2/1/10

NYT (p) 2:12 ... LAT (p) 1:57 ... CS (p) 2:07 ... ND (p) 1:46 ... JON (p) 3:06 ... BEQ (p) 6:05

Fireball subscribers -- okay, that's everyone besides the spambots -- I've learned that Roger DePont is constructing his annual Oscar-nominations puzzle on Tuesday, and it'll be supersized becaue of the expanded field this year. (What happens if Up gets a nod?) So we get two Fireball crosswords this week!