Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
OT - Any cruciverbalists here? (crosswords)
Clay C in Miami
>I was one of the finalists in a crossword contest Starbucks was running, and the tiebreaker puzzle was on line this afternoon. What a beast.
I didn't win.
OK, I haven't, technically, finished yet.
OK, so I have maybe TWO answers that I'm confident of ...
Anyway, if there are other puzzleheads out there who'd like to give this a crack, let me know and I'll email the blank puzzle to you - I have it saved as a .pdf file.
Clay
I confess
Jack Guzman from Maine
>Hi Clay,
I've been doing crossword puzzles daily for over 40 years.I even have a client who gets the NY Times and saves me the daily puzzles.I'd love to give it a shot.---Jack
check your email
Clay C in Miami
>To me, this makes even a tough New York Times Saturday puzzle seem like a Barcalounger by comparison ... Will Shortz is obviously not a nice person.
Not only that, but he's pretty thoroughly Google-proofed it, too. No Belgian rivers, Latin mottoes or 1930's golfers to be seen.
And -- If you fly through it in ten minutes, in ink? I'd probably rather not hear about it.
Clay
Hmmmm?
Ron Bauman
>I thought a cruciverbalist was someone who enjoyed eating mustard.
not a slam dunk
Jack Guzman from Maine
>Clay,I thought I'd better give you an update lest you think I aced it. On the contrary.I can't seem to get started. No I don't want a hint. When I get a tough puzzle like this I put it aside and look at it from time to time til a revelation hits me.Most of the time a new outlook gives me a clue and I finish . On rare occasions when I give up I just throw it away and forget about it.Cheating at crosswords is like cheating at solitaire,what's the point? Crosswords to me are mental calisthenics.---Jack
me too
Clay C in Miami
>You can't say I didn't warn you! I agree - I have to do them with no help from Google, thesaurus, etc. (Not that either would help much with this one.) It's literally the hardest puzzle I've ever seen, though I'm sure that in tournaments there are similar.
The prize for this puzzle was $32,000 - and the winner completed the puzzle, answered the trivia question in it, and called the 800 number with the correct answer, all in less than 5 minutes! That's amazing -- there are some scary-smart people out there.
Clay