The New York Times Crossword Puzzle thread

mjc said:

I enjoy the acrostic too (online). 

jimmurphy, i don't know if it's in the app, but it's available (along with its archive) online by subscription, which i think is about $20 a year for all the puzzles and archives.

Is it considered obsession if i've worked my way back through the acrostic archive to 2004?

Recently i've picked up Spelling Bee and sometimes Tiles.  Interesting thing to me in Spelling Bee is coming back to it off and on during the day, can usually squeeze out 2 or 3 more words.  Annoying thing, of course, is their limited word list, groused about earlier in this thread.

I have a crossword subscription. Is there a separate acrostic subscription?


mjc said:

Most of Tiles is pretty no-brainer, but there's one design that comes up (eg, yesterday) where the parts are more complicated and overlap, and it gets fairly challenging, at least for me.

iirc, best score most days is about 40, but i think yesterday was 50+.

 I didn't even realize there was scoring in tiles.  I find it's easy to finish, and do it just to pass time, not to beat a score.

I'm finding the Bee frustrating because it has so many words that are not really words.  If you put the letters into other word search programs, they don't come up.  Yesterday's was pretty fun -- got a lot of words without making any up.

And could we have an "e" once in a while?   wink

You can get all the games without subscribing, at "nytimes.com".  I also get the daily Times newsletter for free, and the games are all included at the end.

eta:  We got an "e" today, and it was the first time I made "Genius"!  


jimmurphy, the acrostic is included in my online (not phone) crossword subscription.  To get to the acrostic archive (not necessarily recommended!), click on Crossword Archives, then the Acrostic tab.


Oh, now that I did today's, I see what mjc was referring to re: scoring in Tiles.  Didn't pay much attention to them.  Also didn't think of adding them together.

If you know anyone who thinks they could never do the Times xWord, today's is so easy, they may want to give it a try.


mjc said:

jimmurphy, the acrostic is included in my online (not phone) crossword subscription.  To get to the acrostic archive (not necessarily recommended!), click on Crossword Archives, then the Acrostic tab.

Thanks mjc. I normally play on the iPad, which does not seem to have this option.

I’ll look on my notebook computer.


Could someone explain how one achieves Genius status? The other day I got something like 176 points plus the panagram, and I only got Nice or Good. I didn’t even know about Genius until I read about it here. (In the interest of full disclosure, lest you think I’m actually a genius, 176 is about double what I usually average...)


Genius level changes from puzzle to puzzle. Click on one of those yellow dots above your word list to see what the level is for that puzzle.


(should we tell heynj about queen bee level?)


dave said:

(should we tell heynj about queen bee level?)

  oh oh


Queen bee level? I need that. Even if it’s only once, and honorary! Today I did Letter Boxed in three words, a major personal best. However, I can only get 12 words in spelling bee, which is making me feel really dopey. 


Heynj said:

Queen bee level? I need that. Even if it’s only once, and honorary! Today I did Letter Boxed in three words, a major personal best. However, I can only get 12 words in spelling bee, which is making me feel really dopey. 

 Queen Bee is when you get ALL the words possible. I’ve yet to accomplish it. Today, I got close (according to the spelling bee assistant)-not a cheat, but tells you how far you have to go. I try to get genius and be happy with that. Sometimes, I have to settle for amazing. 


I'm one word shy of genius today. Can't quite get it.


drummerboy said:

I'm one word shy of genius today. Can't quite get it.

 I’m also one or two words short 


Tough sledding on Spelling Bee today for me, but the Thurs crossword (which i usually don't like) was actually fun. : )


The Bee is a toughie today. I'm stuck on Nice.


Ouch, missed a lot of obvious words on yesterday's Bee.


drummerboy said:

The Bee is a toughie today. I'm stuck on Nice.

 it sure is...I didn't even make it to Amazing early this morning but went back to it and some additional words jumped at me and those babies got me all the way to Genius. 


alha said:

drummerboy said:

The Bee is a toughie today. I'm stuck on Nice.

 it sure is...I didn't even make it to Amazing early this morning but went back to it and some additional words jumped at me and those babies got me all the way to Genius. 

 Only at Amazing. Will try again letter, er, later...


One of the tougher Sunday crosswords for me.


DaveSchmidt said:

One of the tougher Sunday crosswords for me.

 Agree. Took me probably well over an hour but finally figured out what was going on. Even then, it was a struggle. Ultimately finished it. 


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

DaveSchmidt said:

One of the tougher Sunday crosswords for me.

 Agree. Took me probably well over an hour but finally figured out what was going on. Even then, it was a struggle. Ultimately finished it. 

 ditto


I always forget what that damn "-" means.  Even after "getting it", it was work.  But doable.


bub said:

I always forget what that damn "-" means.  Even after "getting it", it was work.  But doable.

 Saturday was a toughie this week, too.  


I was worried Saturday might be a streak ender, but I got it eventually. Sunday was also a nice challenge. I like it when the puzzles are hard. I liked today's theme a lot. I also didn't get the Pangram till after reaching genius on the Spelling Bee today, so altogether probably too much time spent on the puzzles.


Two days in a row, as the Spelling Bee came onto my screen, the panagram leapt out at me. Yet both days, I did not get beyond Amazing, despite racking up a ton of points. I will end up laughing at myself if I can remember to look at the answers tomorrow, but right now I’m just annoyed at myself. Also, if tole painting is a thing, doesn’t that make “tole” a word? And why does it never take “lenten,” because by rights it starts with a capital L? Grrrr...


Heynj said:

Two days in a row, as the Spelling Bee came onto my screen, the panagram leapt out at me. Yet both days, I did not get beyond Amazing, despite racking up a ton of points. I will end up laughing at myself if I can remember to look at the answers tomorrow, but right now I’m just annoyed at myself. Also, if tole painting is a thing, doesn’t that make “tole” a word? And why does it never take “lenten,” because by rights it starts with a capital L? Grrrr...

 I think emailed them about lenten a while back. Obviously, they didn't care.

And yeah, the past few days I got the pangram immediately too. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it don't.

Not sure what day it was, but recently I got three (? maybe two) pangrams in a row at the very start. I think there was an "ing" involved.


I do not see how I'm gonna get 284 points out of today's letters.


drummerboy said:

I do not see how I'm gonna get 284 points out of today's letters.

 I felt that way earlier this morning too as I struggled to barely make it to Amazing. I kept plugging away, though, and eventually ended up at Genius with 55 words/288 points.

eta: now up to 62 words/332 points


I just got to amazing- 5 pangrams- still need 80 points and need a break


oots said:

I just got to amazing- 5 pangrams- still need 80 points and need a break

I went back and counted my pangrams and to my surprise found that I had 6. I don't remember ever seeing a puzzle with that  many pangrams


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