NYT 4:00 ... LAT 3:39 ... CS 1:48 ... ND 4:55
Today's NY Times puzzles was definitely easier than yesterday's. Didn't really have any rough spots... ONTHESTAGE was a good early guess, but I didn't get back to the NW until everything else was finished. I was on a record pace for the Stumper, but got hung up in the NE because I didn't even try STANDARD for [Not automatic]. Too easy, I thought. Also should have remembered the most famous soliloquy from the Scottish Play. And Doug Peterson has another excellent themeless in the LAT - lots of fresh fill, and theater and baseball clues to make me happy.
Friday, 1/30/09
NYT 5:19 ... SUN 3:23 ... LAT 3:53 ... CS 2:17 ... CHE 2:15 ... WSJ 3:55 ... BEQ 3:26 ... MGWCC 5:46
Tough NYT by BEQ, I thought. Managed to muscle through everything but the northeast, which featured three ten-letter entries that I would never have gotten without crossings and guessing. Guessing at some downs gave me A-A-A at the end of the city name, and fortunately I recognized the city that would fit. Good thing I've seen AXOLOTL before somewhere - surely I have Orange to thank for blogging about it.
Had some trouble with the LAT - while the fill was easy enough, I couldn't grasp the correct way to pronounce the theme answers and had to do some guessing until I got it. Think I set a personal record on the Chronicle of Higher Ed. And holy moly you guys, the easy Wall Street Journal puzzle took me 3:55. Knew I was on a good pace but didn't think I would be under 4 minutes.
Late update: Gaffney's crossword isn't too hard, but the meta-puzzle certainly is. I haven't come up with one possible answer, let alone three, but I'm gonna try no-googling this one (until Monday, of course).
Tough NYT by BEQ, I thought. Managed to muscle through everything but the northeast, which featured three ten-letter entries that I would never have gotten without crossings and guessing. Guessing at some downs gave me A-A-A at the end of the city name, and fortunately I recognized the city that would fit. Good thing I've seen AXOLOTL before somewhere - surely I have Orange to thank for blogging about it.
Had some trouble with the LAT - while the fill was easy enough, I couldn't grasp the correct way to pronounce the theme answers and had to do some guessing until I got it. Think I set a personal record on the Chronicle of Higher Ed. And holy moly you guys, the easy Wall Street Journal puzzle took me 3:55. Knew I was on a good pace but didn't think I would be under 4 minutes.
Late update: Gaffney's crossword isn't too hard, but the meta-puzzle certainly is. I haven't come up with one possible answer, let alone three, but I'm gonna try no-googling this one (until Monday, of course).
Thursday, 1/29/09
NYT 3:17 ... SUN 2:43 ... LAT 1:55 ... CS 2:27
I clicked "Done" on the applet at about 2:50, but it wasn't a typo: I had LEGALPROCESSION for the top theme answer instead of PROFESSION, left over from when I though it might be PROCEDURE(S). I generally like these "backwards" themes, but BAR cannot be defined as MUSICAL NOTATION. Not even close. Very happy with my times on the LAT (aided by a gimme Broadway theme answer) and Klahn's CS. Now if I can do tomorrow's LAT in 2 minutes or less, I will officially be frightened of myself.
I clicked "Done" on the applet at about 2:50, but it wasn't a typo: I had LEGALPROCESSION for the top theme answer instead of PROFESSION, left over from when I though it might be PROCEDURE(S). I generally like these "backwards" themes, but BAR cannot be defined as MUSICAL NOTATION. Not even close. Very happy with my times on the LAT (aided by a gimme Broadway theme answer) and Klahn's CS. Now if I can do tomorrow's LAT in 2 minutes or less, I will officially be frightened of myself.
Tuesday, 1/27/09
NYT 2:01 ... SUN 2:27 ... LAT 1:48 ... CS 2:08 ... BT 3:16 ... TO 4:15
Starting to catch up today on the puzzles I managed to ignore over the weekend. My orchestra rehearsal last night went very well, and though I have plenty of work yet to do, the show (RAGTIME in Astoria, Queens) doesn't open until next weekend.
I know I've seen Peter Gordon's Sun theme (two Hitchcock movies = funny phrase) somewhere before, but I can't find it in a database... part of me thinks it was a Sunday, and part of me thinks it was in the early Sun. I'm probably all wrong.
Starting to catch up today on the puzzles I managed to ignore over the weekend. My orchestra rehearsal last night went very well, and though I have plenty of work yet to do, the show (RAGTIME in Astoria, Queens) doesn't open until next weekend.
I know I've seen Peter Gordon's Sun theme (two Hitchcock movies = funny phrase) somewhere before, but I can't find it in a database... part of me thinks it was a Sunday, and part of me thinks it was in the early Sun. I'm probably all wrong.
Sunday, 1/25/09
NYT (p) 6:53 ... LAT 4:49 ... CS 2:30 ... BG 5:22 ... MR (p) 7:03 ... ND (p) 7:05 ... Acrostic 11:55
Saturday, 1/24/09
NYT 3:30 (?) ... LAT 4:12 ... CS 2:15 ... ND 6:50
Did the NYT in the applet, but didn't write down the time for future blogging. Pretty sure it was 3:30something...
Did the NYT in the applet, but didn't write down the time for future blogging. Pretty sure it was 3:30something...
Friday, 1/23/09
NYT 3:42 ... SUN 2:49 ... LAT 3:33 ... CS 1:40 ... CHE 3:28 ... WSJ 4:51 ... BEQ 5:54 ... MGWCC 5:04
I managed to make it over 24 hours without solving any crosswords, but on Friday night I couldn't resist doing the Times themelesses and Peter Gordon's Oscar-nominee puzzle. Had an easy time figuring out Gaffney's meta-puzzle, but it took me too long to actually come up with the solution.
I managed to make it over 24 hours without solving any crosswords, but on Friday night I couldn't resist doing the Times themelesses and Peter Gordon's Oscar-nominee puzzle. Had an easy time figuring out Gaffney's meta-puzzle, but it took me too long to actually come up with the solution.
Wednesday, 1/21/09
NYT 2:32 ... SUN 3:20 ... LAT 2:36 ... CS 2:17 ... BT 2:51 ... TO 3:06
I may take a brief hiatus for the next few days... lots of real work to catch up on, and if I'm solving the daily puzzles, I'm also spending time on the blogs...
I may take a brief hiatus for the next few days... lots of real work to catch up on, and if I'm solving the daily puzzles, I'm also spending time on the blogs...
Tuesday, 1/20/09
NYT 2:31 ... SUN 2:29 ... LAT 1:45 ... CS 1:45 ...
Yet another Barackified NYT puzzle for Inauguration Day! I got distracted by all the cross-referenced clues and jumped to the bottom to confirm the Obama theme... but BARACKOBAMA didn't fit, and I stuck KYRA in for "Actress Sedgwick" instead of EDIE, so it could have gone faster.
And yet another double-shot of Blindauer in the Sun and CrosSynergy! Always love his CS puzzles because of all the theater-related clues and entries. I was going to complain about BASETEND and TESTBAND in the Sun, but hold up, those are theme entries. (I can still complain about UNWET, though.)
Yet another Barackified NYT puzzle for Inauguration Day! I got distracted by all the cross-referenced clues and jumped to the bottom to confirm the Obama theme... but BARACKOBAMA didn't fit, and I stuck KYRA in for "Actress Sedgwick" instead of EDIE, so it could have gone faster.
And yet another double-shot of Blindauer in the Sun and CrosSynergy! Always love his CS puzzles because of all the theater-related clues and entries. I was going to complain about BASETEND and TESTBAND in the Sun, but hold up, those are theme entries. (I can still complain about UNWET, though.)
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