J

I have been learning ASL for just over 6 months and am using it extensively at a conference this week where there are a lot of d/Deaf people (and I wear a mask, making lip reading near impossible). Imagine my delight when I realized the theme! I spent 3 minutes slowly doing the beginning and once I realized it was ASL, finished the rest in 4 minutes—one minute longer than my record. All of the research into how ASL makes you think spatially is fascinating.

Really enjoyed this clever puzzle! I solved most of it pretty quickly, except the areas around the rebus squares, and then stared at the puzzle for a while trying to figure out what it meant by follow directions. I knew it had to be minor third, but I was baffled by what I thought also had to be “ikea.” It finally clicked after almost 15 minutes that the squares were NSEW and that “north” brought me to minor third nearly perfectly. I finished the rest of it very quickly after that, bringing me to within a minute of my average time. I’m almost never stuck trying to figure things out. I either know it or don’t and so put the crossword down and come back to it. This was a very fun change and I loved it!

Very fun! I figured out the theme immediately with 34-across (although my brain was fairly sure I knew 23-across, but it didn’t fit! I decided I probably misremembered, seeing that I did a project on the subject in 3rd grade, and haven’t thought of the term since. Funny what sticks in our minds!) my fastest Sunday ever! 17:11