Today's NY Times puzzle took me eleven minutes and 55 seconds, which is pretty good for a Thursday for me. (My best so far his year on a NYT Thursday is 10:16.) And I missed one letter, where I had 35 across: Trombonist Winding KA_ intersecting 25 down: Music radio station data: SP_NS. I don't know any trombonists and I had a hard time making the down clue make any sense. It looks pretty obvious now that SPINS is the correct answer, but I put down SPANS, as in the span a radio station covers on the dial -- I guess tha
t's what I was thinking -- and because I thought KAA was a better name for a trombonist than KAI. I also wasted some time on 50 down: "Fear Street" series author. I knew the answer right away, but first had it spelled "Stien" then "Stein" than finally (correctly) "Stine."On the New York Sun puzzle I finished in 6:36, which is definitely a record for 2007 Sun Thursdays. Everything just kinda fell into place. I didn't miss any letters either. The theme was DEF Jam, which means there were a lot of D's, E's and F's in the puzzle -- three of my favorite crossword letters. I didn't miss any letters on this puzzle, even though I had to guess on one: 39 across was Unit of length used for measuring nuclear distances FER_I and 29 down was Minstrel troupe figure END_AN. I have never been to a minstrel show or had a need to measure anything nuclear, but I guessed the correct letter: M.
I did the Jonesin' puzzle too. I really like this puzzle, although my batting average is lower on this than any other, just because there are so many references you have to be young and hip to get, and I am neither. I did it in 10:55, with one wrong letter, couldn't get the middle letter in 1 Across: Masi of "Heroes (O_A) cuz I don't watch that show, and didn't get the crossing 2 Down: Rivera's wife _AHLO, even t
hough I knew it and I should have got it, but I was looking for a hip, happening Rivera, not the Mexican artist who died in 1957
2 comments:
When you beat somebody in the Tournament, you do not then get to play the false humility card with that person. Your times are Just Fine. They'd have to be - otherwise, how the hell did you beat me (well, I mean, besides the fact that I beat myself making stupid errors)? You are a top solver. Deal with it.
RP
I don't think you can accuse a guy who calls himself the Green Genius of being overly humble. But what humility I do have is genuine. As I mentioned, I got a couple of breaks in that I guessed correctly when I needed to, I've always done well under pressure, and I'd already internalized that "speed is important, but accuracy is more important" mantra from reading Matt Gaffney's book.
BTW, I racked my brain on that REJUVENATE + SS puzzle all week long and came up empty, so I may be a top solver but I still have plenty of reasons not to get a big head about it.
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