esrosedotblog

I used to think of myself as a star at the NYTimes Crossword Puzzle.

I loved them. I was in love. Living on the road made them a way to stay "at home". Unrequited love sometimes but still.

I did the Sunday Magazine puzzle in ink. Ostentatiously. On airplanes and in general public areas.

I would rarely fail to finish. And no peeking either.

I had friends who worked it as well and, if I wasn't careful, would call each other with unsubtle feelers to see if they had done theirs.

Then we moved west. No hard copy Times. Well, there are but we didn't want to pay that much for it.

The local paper, as many locals do, carried the NYTimes puzzles on syndication, the same days, a week late. But no Sunday.

So I did them for awhile.

Then, we hated the paper so we quit getting it and that was that.

I went on line and, in those days, it wasn't all that friendly. And it was very expensive. I think 90 plus dollars a year for the daily download.

Slowly but surely, I stopped doing them. Other things came up. End of story.

Then about 6 months ago I started doing the 7 Little Puzzles. It soon became a daily affair. This has little relation to crosswords except that the same mind's eye approach is helpful. How can I explain. Groups of letters form in the minds eye and full words are "seen". This is a fundamental almost intuitive product of crosswords. An eye for it.

There is the mind of course. I am well read. I always look the meaning of words up. I do not skip over. The Kindle, incidentally, is ideal for this because you merely touch the word and there is the dictionary definition.

Anyway, 7 Little Words got me into yearning for the NYT crossword. The big leagues.

Earlier this week there was a promotion. The puzzles for 19.95 a year because I subscribe to the Times on line edition. A real bargain.

And it is very friendly.

Easy to use. Hard to cheat. Very cleverly constructed web site.

So here I am again.

I am rusty. The puzzles increase in difficulty from Monday through Thursday with Thursday being tougher than any.

Friday is mid-level and Saturday is almost always "witty", a fun puzzle.

Then Sunday.

I am OK now up to Wednesday. Thursday killed me.

But I am taking it easy. No rush. It is fun.

Labels: fun