Crossword puzzles

[robot_god]

The second to last relationship I was in occurred about two years ago.  This inferred woman would do crossword puzzles to waste time at work and our thirst for mental competitions led to doing puzzles together.  Anyway it wasn't too long after that I spend a period of some weeks basically addicted to them.

Has anyone else been bitten by dat bug?

I haven't been at them too much lately, but I thought of it because I just came across a cherished Early Sunday Newsday (the best, usually).  I backed out of a trip to Atlantic City (I won last time, fuck it, there's only so much luck you can cash in at craps, amirite?) so I should have a quality hour to fit in some hot crosswords tonight.  In fact I might as well start it right now, hell yeah.

[Drygioni]

i lvo crowssqoesa. IO do them aevery da

[jaydub]

Love 'em.  I got an app for my iPod.  Makes the wait for the train pleasant.

[Choop]

my favorite crosswords are in those books of like 250 with the answer sheets in the back. some take five minutes, some take thirty.

[miles]

Hate 'em. And I've tried to like them, but I'd rather just read to pass time, if I must pass time with words.

[greenkoolayd]

i used to do the NY Times puzzle every day.  the thursday puzzle always confounded me, so it was more like, i used to do the monday, tuesday, and wednesday puzzle.

[jaydub]

Is there a pattern to the NY Times puzzles?  I know the Sunday one is infamously difficult, but do they escalate though the week?  Why was Thursday consistently different from the others?

[littlefallsmets]

Yeah, the premise is escalation.

Monday's the easiest and as the week goes on, they ramp it up until the Sunday wallbanger.

When I have the time, I am a huge crossword fan.

Lately, sadly, not so much.

[Choop]

L.A. Times puts its tough one out on friday. i've finished one sunday NYT crossword. the friday LA times crosswords always stumped me, every damn time.

[jay-ell]

I have been obsessed in turns with crosswords, logic puzzles, sudoku, the Jumble, and a bunch of other single-player word/brain games I can't think of at the moment. My grandmother used to do word searches (I remember seeing her graduate to the large-print editions you find in drugstores), but I always found those too easy.

I'm pretty good with words, but try as I might, I can not beat Auggie's high score in Scramble on Facebook.

[CortJstr]

I could never get into crosswords because I'm a horrible speller, mostly. For a while at work I was doing kakuro puzzles whenever I was bored. And hashi. And hitori.

[AugustWest]

I'm pretty good with words, but try as I might, I can not beat Auggie's high score in Scramble on Facebook.

Heh heh.

I play a lot of live Scramble.  "Long Words Only 5 x 5" most evenings.

As to crosswords, I go way back with crosswords.

My maternal grandmother, whom I loved dearly, did the crossword in the Louisville Courier-Journal every day of her life. A standard Christmas present I'd get her as a kid was a Crossword Dictionary.  We were very close and that's undoubtedly where I got my affinity for crosswords (and for card playing -- especially bridge and gin rummy).

I used to do a couple of daily puzzles every day in college and law school.  Not so much any more.  Now I like to do one while I'm watching a ball game.  I get bored just watching TV, so I'll do a puzzle to occupy the part of my mind that TV doesn't.

Also, a crossword puzzle magazine is a must for CLE (Continuing Legal Education, two days of which I must have per year)  CLE is virtually always unrelated to what I do, delivered in a monotone and god awful boring.  Crosswords are lifesavers in that situation.  Although in recent years a laptop and a copy of Alpha Centauri has been helpful.

I like NY Times puzzles most and the Sunday one best of those.

[Choop]

august i picture you at this CLE thing like stanley on the office. do you sink your chin into your collar and peer over imaginary reading glasses at people when they ask you a question.

[AugustWest]

august i picture you at this CLE thing like stanley on the office. do you sink your chin into your collar and peer over imaginary reading glasses at people when they ask you a question.

Holy crap thank goodness nobody asks questions.  Usually you just sit in a big room with a few hundred other lawyers who are also trying to while away the hours without conspicuously snoring.

I generally go to the free ones put on by the state legislature which are kind of cool because they're held in the state House of Representatives chamber.  It's even better for slacking because it has a balcony where all the cool kids go.

[theinevitable]

It's even better for slacking because it has a balcony where all the cool kids go.

I really like the idea that in the Adult World, of which I will soon be a fake member, at compulsory-education type things the cool adults sit in the back and play computer games.