V
Harford
42
Comments
0.037
Avg Sentiment
14
Positive
13
Neutral
15
Negative
Harford
Before I read the comments, I'm assuming everyone is going to say how easy this was, but I'm not gonna let it get me down today. I'm so happy that I got a gold for the first time on a Saturday. :) I solved the Saturday 11/8/2025 New York Times Daily Crossword in 44:34!
I think the size of this puzzle should have had a "do not try this on your phone" warning. That. Was. Rough.
I would have beaten my best time for a Tuesday, but cat happened.
I solved the Tuesday 9/30/2025 New York Times Daily Crossword in 12:24! I started doing the crossword about a year ago, and today's was one of the most fun, truly a D-lite! And, on the mini, I learned reune is a word. :)
@Zack This is exactly what happened to me. Tuxes, then limos, and the eat/ate debate. Before I had any crosses, I was wondering if Nutella was an English thing. All sorted in the end. :)
@Sleepyinsummerland I've been doing these for about a year now. The Thursday puzzles can be really tough. And if you're unfamiliar with rebuses, they're even harder. I was really happy about finishing today's. After a year I'm still missing some Thursday's. Friday's I'm about 50% on (but that's way better than where I started). I don't even try Saturday's. Keep at it, I think most people playing for a full year will be doing much better than I am. :)
@Francis Whats a good clue for "self-dealing"?
New personal best for a Sunday :) 41:42 3:21 faster than my average. Would have been a bit faster if I hadn't wasted so much time trying to figure out what I got wrong. I almost "saw red" when I spotted it, but I only "saw ree" :(
I thought I failed because I couldn't figure out what a "Nbaref" was and assumed something was wrong there. NBA ref, Doh! 🤦♂️ Turns out I failed on the 27A / 24D crossing vowel. Kamal, not Komal, and Igotta not igotto.
I think I'm done with these. Couldn't finish it. Come in here and every other comment is about how easy it was. Apparently I'm catastrophically stupid.
Kale? I didn't know Zora's middle name, so just had to guess the final square was L. Where in the world is kale a term for moolah? Had no idea what video game sold 300million copies. Thought maybe every version of Madden ever? Got it through the crosses and remembering buying my nephews MINEcraft related presents. Otherwise, that was really cool. Kudos to the creator for the extra creativity to come up with this idea! Definitely made me miss MINEsweeper! :)
That was a lot of fun! Plus, I learned what a Koan is. :)
@Steve L From context, not from the memory of today.
@KFC It gets easier, but never easy. I've been doing these for just over a year now I think and I've definitely gotten better, as well as learned some new words. :) Thursdays can be super-tricky sometimes, 75%-ish solves on those. I'm up to about a 50% solve rate on Fridays. I don't even bother with Saturdays still. But Sun-Wed....I'm pretty proud of how well I knock those out now. :)
Arrgh, failed by one square. No clue what the intersection of 13D and 21A is. Pro instead of Pee really messed me up for a while at the bottom, especially since I needed the crossers to get enisle. I never would have guessed that that was even a word.
@John I had "pro" in there for such a long time. Sigh.
I really liked this one. Haven't been able to ski in years(decades), so the combo of a fun puzzle and fond recollections was lovely.
@Andrzej Thanks, I appreciate it. :) Unfortunately I went and read the comments. Now I'm just embarrassed and can't delete my comment. :(
@Francis The way our brains recognize and interpret patterns is fascinating. I remember reading something long ago about the differences in brain activity between growing up with Chinese characters vs the English alphabet. Something about the visual-spatial recognition and using additional parts of the brain. I remember feeling disappointed that reading in English wasn't as brain-stimulating as if I was reading in Chinese. I could see a DOOK being a fish. Though also maybe an Australian bird? "Crikey, that red-billed dook just swallowed that mouse whole!" hehe Proper names are what usually get me. There'll always be some I've never heard of before, like today's Apple TV show. For those, I just have to hope I get ALL the crossers because you never know how someone will spell their name. Komal sounded reasonable to me. Kumail, Kumar.... why not Komal? ESPECIALLY when "I got to" also seemed like a perfectly reasonable answer to "No other option for me".
The middle letter in 19D and 23A got me. Had to just toss in random letters til I got it. :/
I got 4 squares away from solving. Really liked it despite having to cheat to finish. :)
Went through the entire puzzle 3 times now, the last time in list view while looking at the answer key. Not a letter out of place. What DOIGOTTA do to get a solve around here? :p
@Roberto My father and brother are both Peter. :(
@Marcus "Jimmy Eat World is an American ROCK band formed in Mesa, Arizona, in 1993." - Wikipedia No clue how someone could consider them emo.
@G I did go back this morning. :) Couldn't believe I missed teat. Then likeaboss came to me, followed by egos and the rest of the SW corner. The rose of rosegarden was a stab in the dark, but led me to atsea and ultrasuede. Still unfinished so I spent quite some time trying to find the error(s), finally landed on "well, pylons IS a word" still no idea how it related to wires until I read the comments here. I've never heard of a pole or tower referred to in that way. So technically solved, but thanks to several guesses. :p
@Megan it took me forever to remember his name. I just kept thinking about him as the bad guy in the 80's movie where Robert Downey's character dies. Glad that movie wasn't a clue, because I still haven't remembered the title! :)
@Leontion I tried both of those as well! :)
@lucky13 Just took a look at the link you included. Those look like a lot of fun, will definitely try one in a bit. Thank you!
@Steve L I really appreciate the encouragement. :) Hearing you've been doing these for 40! years helps. Sometimes looking at the comments and seeing people say how easy they found some puzzles makes me think I'm just not cut our for this, despite my objective improvements. It's always easier to doubt rather than believe in myself, lol PSU is what saved me in exactly the way you describe. Actually had my best time ever on a Sunday, 41m 42s. (Though a typo of ALLREE instead of ALLRED hurt) I'll keep plugging along, and maybe next year I'll have some Saturdays under my belt. :)
That was brutal. Guessed a lot. The bottom right corner stumped me. Will forever remain unfinished.
@fehstik I can't believe I didn't get that. I was like, I have no idea what a Nbaref is, but everything else fits. 🤷♂️
Restore Kimberly's streak! (watching Jeopardy lol)
@RozzieGrandma Will do, thanks for the suggestion! :)
It was fun until I got to the lower left corner. Had to give up. :(
This is as far as I got. Several guesses in there that may not be correct. <a href="https://imgur.com/a/R4InSHU" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/R4InSHU</a>
@Mike I completely agree. My only guess is "activities" on a video cassette tape? Either way it's not something anyone would ever say. Sound recordings aren't "activities", and no one would ever call a VHS tape a cassette tape.
In the app, 42 across shows Evade slightly higher than the rest of the clues. Does it appear mini-er in the actual paper? Just not sure how slightly vertically elevated = mini.
@Francis I used the answer key on the last typo hunt and it's letter-for-letter perfect. Just a weird glitch I guess. I'd post screenshots in here if I knew how. Luckily I knew ATTA, but that was indeed a tricky one!
@Andrzej The 2nd E in EDERLE was a guess, but I used the answer key on the last typo hunt and it's letter-for-letter perfect. Just a weird glitch I guess.
Best I could do... <a href="https://imgur.com/a/yQ5xKza" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/yQ5xKza</a>
All 42 comments loaded