There's a new Snake Charmer at Patrick Berry's site. Let's see how fast we can whip through that one - not sure I've timed myself on that type before, but it's probably no more than 90 seconds or so.
when i get stuck on a snake charmer, i usually get stuck for a good long while on two clues. unlike with a crossword, i don't have the luxury of working other clues until there's only one missing letter (or zero missing letters).
OMG, I beat Dan on two puzzles today, my day is complete. Dan, it must be annoying when you kick my butt for 99% of the puzzles, then I have to point out the exceedingly rare occasion when I squeak out a narrow victory, but that's just a sign of the respect I have for your solving prowess.
I guess to be fair I have to mention Dan's 6 minute improvement on my WSJ time =:-0. I should learn to wait until the Lloyd Mazer litz version of the WSJ shows up. I find I'm significantly slower on the PDF version on the WSJ blog site, probably due to the smaller grid. Anyone else notice that?
Full disclosure, I will *not* be posting my terrible time on the monthly Blindauer! Since I didn't know my periodic table, I wasn't sure if it was cheating to look up element #18 ahead of time. Had I done so, my time would have been cut at least in half I bet.
Al, I began solving the monthly Blindauer last night, fully intending to add it to the spreadsheet when I'd finished.
Then, when I had about 2/3 of the grid filled in at the 45:00 mark -- and was stuck for a few more minutes -- I closed it and decided to continue some other time.
8 comments:
when i get stuck on a snake charmer, i usually get stuck for a good long while on two clues. unlike with a crossword, i don't have the luxury of working other clues until there's only one missing letter (or zero missing letters).
* NY Times assisted by sleeping baby.
quite right, Joon. I remember zipping through some easier ones without leaving a gap, but I sure had one today (end of 7, start of 20).
OMG, I beat Dan on two puzzles today, my day is complete. Dan, it must be annoying when you kick my butt for 99% of the puzzles, then I have to point out the exceedingly rare occasion when I squeak out a narrow victory, but that's just a sign of the respect I have for your solving prowess.
I guess to be fair I have to mention Dan's 6 minute improvement on my WSJ time =:-0. I should learn to wait until the Lloyd Mazer litz version of the WSJ shows up. I find I'm significantly slower on the PDF version on the WSJ blog site, probably due to the smaller grid. Anyone else notice that?
Full disclosure, I will *not* be posting my terrible time on the monthly Blindauer! Since I didn't know my periodic table, I wasn't sure if it was cheating to look up element #18 ahead of time. Had I done so, my time would have been cut at least in half I bet.
Al, I began solving the monthly Blindauer last night, fully intending to add it to the spreadsheet when I'd finished.
Then, when I had about 2/3 of the grid filled in at the 45:00 mark -- and was stuck for a few more minutes -- I closed it and decided to continue some other time.
Quite the puzzler, that one.
Come on, Al! I posted my miserable 16 minute time on Thursday's NYT, so don't be shy!
I'll put PB2's March offering on tomorrow's spreadsheet - Friday's already crowded.
It wasn't pretty in my house either, so we can all embarrass ourselves together! I'll save spoilery details for the coverage at Fiend tomorrow.
Oh, I should also say, crowing and trash talk is highly encouraged, Al! :) and yes, I hate the WSJ's pdf and never ever use it.
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