Friday, 3/30/12

Add your times here.


Brad Wilber sent out his monthly blog puzzle today, and it is also here! but his website is down. Email me if you need a copy (Smooth or Crunchy clues). I'll put it on tomorrow's post because Friday's crowded...

12 comments:

Jared said...

I'll be holding off on posting my times (and timing myself at all, for the most part) until I improve to at least being within an average factor of 2 of the next slowest solver. I'll be back!

Bruce said...

As a slow solver, Jared.... Come back....

Bruce said...

Also, am I the only one who had never heard of 20A in the Newsday puzzle? It brought my top middle solving to a standstill...

David said...

I had a vague memory of 20A, but I'm not sure from where; it might have been from a few years ago when people were discussing building one for quick transportation from California to Vegas. Definitely obscure for a weekday ND theme entry, but there wasn't much else it could be replaced with.

Tuning Spork said...

I had only a vague recollection of Newsday's 20-A, but only after playing Letter Roulette for the final crossing and staring at it for a few seconds.
And now, 12 hours later, I can't remember what it was. MxxxVTRAIN?.

Tuning Spork said...

Jared, but just think of the fun of keeping a record of your progress as the months go by.

Come o-o-o-o-on!

Dan said...

Look forward to your triumphant return, Jared!

Newsday 20A is the Japanese bullet train, I think? I had a bigger problem with the 57A themer - which isn't a thing - and the bizarro cluing throughout. It felt like a Tim Parker puzzle, sorry to say. (Or what I remember Parker puzzles to be, because it's been several years since I did one...)

Jared said...

I have heard of 20A but yes, this puzzle sucked.

Joon said...

i had no problems with that particular theme answer (MAGnetic LEVitation; does not refer to any particular train, i think, but a kind of train that does not physically touch its tracks), but yes, the cluing was "bizarro".

Jeff Chen said...

On behalf of slooooooow solvers, come back Jared!

I spent about five minutes on the SW corner of the NYT just now. Humbling. Good to add 53D to my repertoire of "words you only see in xwords".

Jared said...

Alright, I'll keep posting. But for puzzles that take longer than 20 minutes or that I don't time because I know they'll take longer than 20 minutes, I'm just putting 20+. And for the record, I still have a very low chance of successfully solving any given fri or sat NYT.

Gareth Bain said...

MAGLEV would've been a gimme here too, sure we studied how they work in high school physics, just don't bloody well ask me, unless you give me about 20 min to read Wikipedia first!