Wednesday, 8/31/11

NYT 2:05 ... LAT 2:21 ... CS 1:39 ... ND 1:39

I guess Crossword Butler is having one of those unscheduled outages...

Tuesday, 8/30/11

NYT 1:45 ... LAT 1:51 ... CS 1:54 ... ND 1:10 ... BT 2:35 ... TO 2:19

Monday, 8/29/11

NYT 1:26 ... LAT 1:38 ... CS 2:13 ... ND 1:19 ... JON 2:01 ... BEQ 3:31

This is post #1000! Thank you to my tens of readers for your continued support.

Sunday, 8/28/11

NYT 5:05 ... LAT 4:27 ... MR 4:34 ... BG 4:35 ... ND 3:31 ... CS 1:58 ... WP 3:19 ... Acrostic 8:45

Saturday, 8/27/11

NYT 3:04 ... LAT 2:27 ... CS 2:05 ... ND 5:18 ... Acrostic 6:05 ... BW 10:19

Friday, 8/26/11

NYT 3:30 ... LAT 2:29 ... CS 2:13 ... ND 2:11 ... WSJ 4:27 ... MGWC 8:31 ... TM 5:23

Thursday, 8/25/11

NYT 2:23 ... LAT 1:44 ... CS 2:24 ... ND 2:10 ... BEQ 3:41 ... AR #38 (p) 9:00

Moving yesterday's BEQ time to today's post, just for consistency...

Wednesday, 8/24/11

NYT 2:05 ... LAT 2:06 ... CS 1:45 ... ND 1:33

Tuesday, 8/23/11

NYT 2:05 ... LAT 2:07 ... CS 1:39 ... ND 1:25 ... BT 2:24 ... TO 2:03

I've just learned that George R.R. Martin's LiveJournal is called Not a Blog. He is such a liar!

Monday, 8/22/11

NYT 1:19 ... LAT 1:27 ... CS 1:36 ... ND 1:22 ... JON 2:15 ... BEQ 4:42

Sunday, 8/21/11

NYT 4:04 ... LAT 3:59 ... MR 4:02 ... BG 4:51 ... ND 2:43 ... CS 1:50 ... WP 4:17 ... TM 3:28

Saturday, 8/20/11

NYT n/a ... LAT 2:18 ... CS 1:58 ... ND 3:57 ... Spell Weaving (p) 5:30

I test-solved the Lollapuzzoola finals (re-published in the NYT today) in 5:35.

Friday, 8/19/11

NYT 2:50 ... LAT 2:04 ... CS 2:24 ... ND 1:45 ... WSJ 4:25 ... MGWC 4:02

Thursday, 8/18/11

NYT 3:38 ... LAT 2:04 ... CS 2:01 ... ND 2:01 ... BEQ Cryptic 8:40

Wednesday, 8/17/11

NYT 1:55 ... LAT 1:54 ... CS 2:06 ... ND 1:38

Tuesday, 8/16/11

NYT 1:35 ... LAT 1:50 ... CS 1:37 ... ND 1:25 ... BT 3:05 ... TO 2:21 ... JH 2:09

Jangler has some new puzzles up since last I checked (hat tip: Tyler). Been relying on Andrew's Puzzle Links to find self-published puzzles, so send him tips!

Monday, 8/15/11

NYT 1:31 ... LAT 1:45 ... CS 2:00 ... ND 1:26 ... JON 2:08 ... BEQ 4:16

Sunday, 8/14/11

NYT 5:14 ... LAT 4:05 ... MR 4:48 ... BG 4:58 ... ND 3:58 ... CS 1:45 ... WP 3:50 ... Acrostic 11:45

Saturday, 8/13/11

NYT 3:42 ... LAT 2:28 ... CS 1:51 ... ND 5:28 ... Hex Cryptic (p) 11:10

I'm going away for the weekend, so next update will be Monday!

Friday, 8/12/11

NYT 5:29 ... LAT 2:19 ... CS 1:41 ... ND 2:05 ... CHE 3:16 ... WSJ 4:50 ... MGWC 2:25 ... AR #37 (p) 10:20

I see Joon beat me soundly on the NYT today... I couldn't make much headway in the NE corner until guessing FLAB.

Thursday, 8/11/11

NYT 3:51 ... LAT 2:01 ... CS 2:23 ... ND 1:39 ... BEQ 2:16

Wednesday, 8/10/11

NYT 1:49 ... LAT 2:11 ... CS 1:40 ... ND 1:27

Tuesday, 8/9/11

NYT 1:54 ... LAT 1:36 .... CS 1:37 ... ND 1:25 ... BT 3:03 ... TO 1:57

Monday, 8/8/11

NYT 1:17 ... LAT 1:45 ... CS 1:36 ... ND 1:12 ... JON 1:53 ... BEQ 3:17

Sunday, 8/7/11 (and Lollapuzzoola 4)

NYT 4:34 ... LAT 4:16 ... MR 4:05 ... BG 4:41 ... ND 3:57 ... CS 2:03 ... WP 3:14 ... Diagramless (p) 7:23

Lollapuzzoola was a smashing success once again. It's a good thing organizers Brian Cimmet and Patrick Blindauer booked a bigger room in Manhattan, because there was a huge walk-in crowd and somewhere around 170 people competed. Jeffrey Harris took the title again, edging Al Sanders and Dave Tuller on the big boards. I enjoyed my first full day as a judge, collecting papers, grading them, and joining the Google Team when needed on the hardest puzzle. Fun and pizza was had by all!

Below are my times from when I test-solved the puzzles a week or so ago. Some clues changed for the final version, but they're essentially the same puzzles, if you'd like to compare your times to mine. (I don't know how I would have compared to the top finishers today, and I'm not sure I will find out, because the times won't be posted with the results... then again, perhaps Al will check in, and he finished first on points.)

Puzzle 1 - 2:55
Puzzle 2 - 7:00
Puzzle 3 - 5:30 (and 2:00 for the bonus answer)
Puzzle 4 - 9:00 (but they clarified the theme clues after I pointed out a minor problem)
Puzzle 5 - 7:45 (and 0:45 for the bonus answer)
Puzzle 6 (Express Finals) - 5:35 - which certainly would have won, even allowing for whiteboard awkwardness, but the clues were toughened up a bit after my round of test-solving.

Saturday, 8/6/11

NYT 3:09 ... LAT 2:35 ... CS 1:38 ... ND 3:45 ... Rows Garden (p) 15:35

Off to Lollapuzzoola in the morning! Once again I'm volunteering/proctoring/judging, and enjoying the festivities and camaraderie without the pressure. The puzzles are outstanding, the pre-registrations are way up over last year, and the new venue is apparently very well air-conditioned. Should be fun.

Friday, 8/5/11

NYT 3:04 ... LAT 2:29 ... CS 1:51 ... ND 2:06 ... WSJ 4:38 ... MGWC 2:04 ... TM 3:35

Thursday, 8/4/11

NYT 3:12 ... LAT 2:20 ... CS 1:46 ... ND 1:57 ... BEQ 2:28 ... FB 3:09 ... PB2 1:42 ... Double or Nothing (p) 17:30

I figured out "Double or Nothing" within a minute, and it still was beastly. Meanwhile, Patrick Blindauer may never write an easier puzzle...

Wednesday, 8/3/11

NYT 1:54 ... LAT 1:47 ... CS 1:44 ... ND 1:20

Tuesday, 8/2/11

NYT 1:36 ... LAT 1:49 ... CS 1:58 ... ND 1:30 ... BT 2:38 ... TO 2:26 ... TM 3:34 ... AR #36e (p) 8:35

Andrew challenged me to beat last week's Rows Garden time using the Easier version (with "Blooms" in grid order, rather than random). Fail!

Monday, 8/1/11

NYT 2:05 ... LAT 1:42 ... CS 1:47 ... ND 1:21 ... JON 2:18 ... BEQ 5:36