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Crossword puzzles
Yesterday morning at home:
Nobody: ...
Me: Rrrrrgh, Jesus Christ!
Spouse: Huh? What?
Me: When they said "screwdriver component" and it started with a V, they meant the DRINK, the answer is VODKA, ohhhhh they did me so dirty.
So yes, I am now trying to extend my NYT crossword streak out to 6 weeks (42 days). No real reason except that I wanted to make sure I had some fun in my first few weeks out of work, and a coworker of mine told me that his solving times cut in half after he did it daily for 6 weeks. Also, I'm already 29 days in, and having held onto my streak during the hang gliding trip it should be easy to keep going now.
As with most things, this is way more fun if a person has time to savor it a little bit. Yes, the puzzle itself is timed -- which I respect and notice, even though I'm not super focused on the time -- but after that I can keep tabs open for people and things I had to look up, and they're often famous for a reason. Like, did you know that Muhammed Ali had a daughter (Laila Ali) who's my age and retired undefeated as a female professional boxer? What a badass. Today's crossword also made me look up the months in Spanish (clue: enero o abril, answer: mes), which indirectly made me realize that everyone named Julio is actually named July in Spanish. Maybe everyone else already knew that, but it's okay, I probably knew some other answer that someone else wouldn't have.
I haven't gone down the rabbit hole of competitions, or even learning specifically for the puzzles (I probably would benefit from knowing all the damn sports teams of major US cities and universities, and the months / numbers in all the major world languages). I also didn't get "before" stats, although all kinds of advanced stuff can be gotten through xwstats.com because I'm not the only nerd out there. Anyway, the next best would be "now" stats, so here we have 'em:
They're supposed to get harder/slower throughout the week, so this is expected, but look how perfect that stairstep pattern really is! I'm impressed by their understanding of what makes a crossword difficult.
Nobody: ...
Me: Rrrrrgh, Jesus Christ!
Spouse: Huh? What?
Me: When they said "screwdriver component" and it started with a V, they meant the DRINK, the answer is VODKA, ohhhhh they did me so dirty.
So yes, I am now trying to extend my NYT crossword streak out to 6 weeks (42 days). No real reason except that I wanted to make sure I had some fun in my first few weeks out of work, and a coworker of mine told me that his solving times cut in half after he did it daily for 6 weeks. Also, I'm already 29 days in, and having held onto my streak during the hang gliding trip it should be easy to keep going now.
As with most things, this is way more fun if a person has time to savor it a little bit. Yes, the puzzle itself is timed -- which I respect and notice, even though I'm not super focused on the time -- but after that I can keep tabs open for people and things I had to look up, and they're often famous for a reason. Like, did you know that Muhammed Ali had a daughter (Laila Ali) who's my age and retired undefeated as a female professional boxer? What a badass. Today's crossword also made me look up the months in Spanish (clue: enero o abril, answer: mes), which indirectly made me realize that everyone named Julio is actually named July in Spanish. Maybe everyone else already knew that, but it's okay, I probably knew some other answer that someone else wouldn't have.
I haven't gone down the rabbit hole of competitions, or even learning specifically for the puzzles (I probably would benefit from knowing all the damn sports teams of major US cities and universities, and the months / numbers in all the major world languages). I also didn't get "before" stats, although all kinds of advanced stuff can be gotten through xwstats.com because I'm not the only nerd out there. Anyway, the next best would be "now" stats, so here we have 'em:
They're supposed to get harder/slower throughout the week, so this is expected, but look how perfect that stairstep pattern really is! I'm impressed by their understanding of what makes a crossword difficult.
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The month-index offset you refer to is awkward, but does lead to one of the nerdiest jokes ever:
Why is Christmas like Halloween?
Because 25 dec equals 31 oct.
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No, that's unrelated. July and August replaced... oh, I guess in English we'd say Quintember and Sextember.
The names being unhitched from their placement in the calendar has to do with moving the New Year from March to January.
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(Anonymous) 2025-05-08 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)no subject