I was a little bit let down by that too. I think it's more of a casual thing with Moose. If he was really into crosswords, he'd be all about the Sunday Times puzzle.
My great aunt can do the Sunday puzzle without batting an eye, no lie. My dad's entire family are all good at that kind of thing. But for the life of me, I just never developed the instincts for crosswords. I know a lot of it is looking for clues, but my mind just has an incredibly difficult time with that kind of stuff. I can get one or two questions here and there--I used to have my old man save the sports and movie ones for me--but if I could even finish half of a Monday Times puzzle, I'd be amped.
I was a little bit let down by that too. I think it's more of a casual thing with Moose. If he was really into crosswords, he'd be all about the Sunday Times puzzle.
My great aunt can do the Sunday puzzle without batting an eye, no lie. My dad's entire family are all good at that kind of thing. But for the life of me, I just never developed the instincts for crosswords. I know a lot of it is looking for clues, but my mind just has an incredibly difficult time with that kind of stuff. I can get one or two questions here and there--I used to have my old man save the sports and movie ones for me--but if I could even finish half of a Monday Times puzzle, I'd be amped.
The Sunday NY Times is fun because it's got the big grid, but really, it's only about as hard as a Wednesday or a Thursday. I like the Sunday puzzle because I can complete it in a couple of hours.
The Saturday puzzle, in the words of David Sedaris, requires the kind of mind that can bend spoons. My wife and I will try to do these together; I've got a good memory and I'm good at word puzzles; she's an astrophysics Ph.D. Sometimes we make a good team... but we can't do the Saturday puzzle. It's just that difficult.
2 Mark and Minny?
I once completed the Sunday Times crossword puzzle. Took me a week, with a dictionary and thesaurus.
You all forget though, probably for most of the jocks, the TV Guide puzzle is hard.
I don't like crosswords. I'm crazy about Sudoku though. I've always liked logic type of puzzles more than word puzzles. I believe I've read Nick Johnson is into Sudoku too.
3 I have to agree with the sentiment that if all he's doing is the USA Today puzzle, then it says something about everybody else who thinks Moose is a brainiac because he does puzzles.
6 Exactly. It used to take me 2-3 hours to do the Sunday puzzle, and I'd often need a break in the middle to go refresh my brain. Now I get irritated if I run much over an hour. (I give myself an extra hour if I try to listen to a baseball game while I work on the puzzle.) But the Saturday puzzle, oy!
28 My favorite "Wheel of Fortune" episode ever, happened about 20 years ago. Someone had "BACK_ARD GLANCE" and missed it.
I saw the film yesterday. Well-made, funny, tense (really it was in certain scenes), but didn't take itself TOO seriously.
Mike was one of the "celebrity cameos" of "famous" crossword fans (along with Bill Clinton, Jon Stewart, and a few others).
Moose seemed at ease in front of the lense, and gave a good demostration of the proper technique for working on a puzzle while sitting in a dugout. :-)
The definition of an "intellectual" in baseball has always seemed to be "someone who does crossword puzzles." Bernie's often described as "cerebral," but he doesn't do crosswords; only Moose is a true intellectual.
The Saturday puzzle doesn't have the cute theme thing, but it's much harder than Sunday's. Not even close.
16 I think -- not sure -- the Sunday puzzle has gotten easier under Shortz. I have some books of Sunday puzzles from Maleska's years and they seem much more difficult than the current crop of puzzles. Maybe it's just my imagination...
19 Hard for me to tell. I moved to the city only a few months before Maleska died. I remember the puzzles being somewhat chaotic for a while after that -- one week I'd finished the Sunday in 45 minutes, the next it would take 3 hours. There were a lot of complaints then also because Shortz was trying to make the entertainment clues more contemporary -- I can see where that might make it seem easier to the younger solvers.
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Real men do the Saturday NY Times puzzle.
"M_rk and Min_y"
My great aunt can do the Sunday puzzle without batting an eye, no lie. My dad's entire family are all good at that kind of thing. But for the life of me, I just never developed the instincts for crosswords. I know a lot of it is looking for clues, but my mind just has an incredibly difficult time with that kind of stuff. I can get one or two questions here and there--I used to have my old man save the sports and movie ones for me--but if I could even finish half of a Monday Times puzzle, I'd be amped.
My great aunt can do the Sunday puzzle without batting an eye, no lie. My dad's entire family are all good at that kind of thing. But for the life of me, I just never developed the instincts for crosswords. I know a lot of it is looking for clues, but my mind just has an incredibly difficult time with that kind of stuff. I can get one or two questions here and there--I used to have my old man save the sports and movie ones for me--but if I could even finish half of a Monday Times puzzle, I'd be amped.
The Saturday puzzle, in the words of David Sedaris, requires the kind of mind that can bend spoons. My wife and I will try to do these together; I've got a good memory and I'm good at word puzzles; she's an astrophysics Ph.D. Sometimes we make a good team... but we can't do the Saturday puzzle. It's just that difficult.
I once completed the Sunday Times crossword puzzle. Took me a week, with a dictionary and thesaurus.
You all forget though, probably for most of the jocks, the TV Guide puzzle is hard.
Mirk and Minty?
reminds me of OH sadaharu the Yomiuri Giants slugger whose one character last name ( a rarity) also meant "king" .
Must be why his job is in jeopardy in L.A.
6 Exactly. It used to take me 2-3 hours to do the Sunday puzzle, and I'd often need a break in the middle to go refresh my brain. Now I get irritated if I run much over an hour. (I give myself an extra hour if I try to listen to a baseball game while I work on the puzzle.) But the Saturday puzzle, oy!
2 8 My favorite "Wheel of Fortune" episode ever, happened about 20 years ago. Someone had "BACK_ARD GLANCE" and missed it.
Mike was one of the "celebrity cameos" of "famous" crossword fans (along with Bill Clinton, Jon Stewart, and a few others).
Moose seemed at ease in front of the lense, and gave a good demostration of the proper technique for working on a puzzle while sitting in a dugout. :-)
The Saturday puzzle doesn't have the cute theme thing, but it's much harder than Sunday's. Not even close.
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