Nancy

Omg you guys I just got my first gold star for a Sunday crossword!!! Did I need to read the article? Of course I did! Did I Google a few things? Yes for sure. But did I use auto check or any similar hints? No I did not! Woohoo! Getting better at this crossword thing.

Omg you guys I solved this one without reading the article first - which means I worked out it was a rebus all on my own!!! Lots I had to Google here, and a few things I trawled the comments for, to help fix a few little errors. But overall I feel I really deserve today’s gold star! 🤩

Today I finished the crossword before I even looked at the Wordplay article AND I didn’t Google anything. Feeling highly accomplished 🤩

I’m still new to crosswords so I was proud of myself when I got past halfway before turning on Autocheck; usually Sundays I barely even get started before resorting to Autocheck for help! I really enjoyed today’s theme, there were so many fun clues. I originally had secretCITY but quickly realised my mistake from the crossing words, and then I nearly worked out the letter puzzle on that one all by myself (I first tried iseeEYETOEYE, which threw me right off for a while). My favourite letter puzzle was TEASETS, and on a related note I enjoyed today’s puzzle with a cup of French Earl Grey tea; a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning.

This was good fun 🤩 Feeling quite proud of myself that I worked out the theme and basically filled the whole puzzle without reading the article! But I did need the article to help me nitpick little errors - thank goodness for the help on BOTTED because I had no idea. Also I have to say that being non-religious, crosswords are really improving my Bible knowledge. Like I know words now like apse and NAVE which I had never heard before. And I’m learning about people like Methuselah and ENOCH and ESAU and Seth. I’m not about to read the whole Bible but if anyone can recommend a nice book that explains some of this stuff, I might check it out! (Otherwise my ex-Catholic husband will continue to help me out every time these clues come up!)

Very proud of how I did today - I worked out the theme all by myself! Needed a few hints from the article for ones I hadn’t worked out yet (we don’t have gambling machines where I live so I had no hope there). Lots of Googling today but I’m fine with that because it helps me learn for next time. And I almost solved the puzzle myself without using the checking tools. But… So, a new word for me today: ASPERSES and also ALI for “greatest guy” is that referring to Muhammad Ali the boxer, do we think?

Well, I did have to turn on auto-check today but that was just for my own typos as it turns out. Definitely needed the article’s help to get started on that central block - I had the whole outside figured out and just that cheeky 4x4 in the middle to solve. Quite a clever idea actually, well done to the puzzle maker!

Darn it, I thought I might get a gold star today; I looked and looked and looked for what I had wrong… Alas, not being American has foiled me once more! I had an s instead of Z at the intersection of REs and STYLIsE - but had to ask the app to check my puzzle to find that error, so no gold star for me this week.

I LOVED this puzzle. I’m not a huge gamer but I am a huge nerd in other ways so I managed the theme clues just fine (felt quite clever getting the whole MUSH/ROOM and FIREF/LOWER thing actually). Otherwise I did an awful lot of googling today but I didn’t need so many of the hints from the article and I only needed to trawl the comments until I saw someone suggest HOECAKES which they just don’t have where I live so I’m not sad I needed help for that one. The north west corner was my hardest spot, COCOON took me way too long to realise. Definitely feel like I earned my gold star today!