Crossword puzzles

[xmontrealer]

In my old age I am trying to keep my brain in shape, and have just discovered the nerd in me enjoys trying to solve crossword puzzles.

I have been doing the ones found near the back of each New Yorker magazine, and the so-called easier ones from The New York Times.

Lots of fun, but how the heck did anybody completely solve any but the easiest ones without the help of Google?

 

[Robert Mugabe]

In my old age I am trying to keep my brain in shape, and have just discovered the nerd in me enjoys trying to solve crossword puzzles.

I have been doing the ones found near the back of each New Yorker magazine, and the so-called easier ones from The New York Times.

Lots of fun, but how the heck did anybody completely solve any but the easiest ones without the help of Google?

Crossword for idiots– Postmark (postmarkonline.co.uk)

 

[shack]

In my old age I am trying to keep my brain in shape, and have just discovered the nerd in me enjoys trying to solve crossword puzzles.

I have been doing the ones found near the back of each New Yorker magazine, and the so-called easier ones from The New York Times.

Lots of fun, but how the heck did anybody completely solve any but the easiest ones without the help of Google?

I do the one in the Star each day. Most days I can fill in over 90% of the ties and if I have the patience, I'll complete 10% of them. That's the problem, I'm not willing to devote enough time.

The Saturday ones in the Star, I almost never get close to finishing. Having said that, I completed one for just the second time last week.

If you want a good game, the New York Times has a game each day called Spelling Bee. You have 6 letters arranged in a circle and one more in the middle. All 7 letters are different. You have to make as many words as you can with those letters. The only restrictions are that the words must at least 4 letters long and you must include the middle letter. You can use a letter as many times as you like. I enjoy this game a lot.



For example, I see the word "ANTIMONY" in there. All 7 letters were used and they call that a "pangram".

An online subscription for the NYT is fairly cheap.

 

[Ponderling]

It takes time to train your crossword brain And getting used to the style of the setter.

I work the Globe Saturday crossword every week, back and forth with my wife.

Yes, we do resort to Google , or often Wordplays, but not right off the bat.

Because I do not have any background in Greek mythology. and that seems to be a fave for short and weird vowel combos to get the setter out of a fix.

After you are 'stuck' set it aside. A few hours later you likely find more creations.

Dollarama sells books with Miles Mellor as the setter.
Good for finishing after a meal- nice and quick, but good brain training to keep it limber for the Saturday challenges.

 

[bemeup]

I do the one in the Star each day. Most days I can fill in over 90% of the ties and if I have the patience, I'll complete 10% of them. That's the problem, I'm not willing to devote enough time.

The Saturday ones in the Star, I almost never get close to finishing. Having said that, I completed one for just the second time last week.

If you want a good game, the New York Times has a game each day called Spelling Bee. You have 6 letters arranged in a circle and one more in the middle. All 7 letters are different. You have to make as many words as you can with those letters. The only restrictions are that the words must at least 4 letters long and you must include the middle letter. You can use a letter as many times as you like. I enjoy this game a lot.

View attachment 336912

For example, I see the word "ANTIMONY" in there. All 7 letters were used and they call that a "pangram".

An online subscription for the NYT is fairly cheap.

I have the online subscription and play Spelling Bee every day, as well as Wordle and the crossword. Well worth the approximately $10 per month, because it provides hours of amusement each month, and keeps my senior citizen brain active.

 

[MissCroft]

I love crosswords - been doing them for years.

If you want a good game, the New York Times has a game each day called Spelling Bee. You have 6 letters arranged in a circle and one more in the middle. All 7 letters are different. You have to make as many words as you can with those letters. The only restrictions are that the words must at least 4 letters long and you must include the middle letter. You can use a letter as many times as you like. I enjoy this game a lot.

View attachment 336912

For example, I see the word "ANTIMONY" in there. All 7 letters were used and they call that a "pangram".

I play this one:

Blossom, a daily word game

Blossom is a word game in which you use seven letters to make only 12 words. Longer words score better, and bonus letters and pangrams earn extra points.

www.merriam-webster.com

 

[shack]

I have the online subscription and play Spelling Bee every day, as well as Wordle and the crossword. Well worth the approximately $10 per month, because it provides hours of amusement each month, and keeps my senior citizen brain active.

And they actually have good reporting and insights. Imagine that.

Yeah, I think it's a great deal.

 

[K Douglas]

In my old age I am trying to keep my brain in shape, and have just discovered the nerd in me enjoys trying to solve crossword puzzles.

I have been doing the ones found near the back of each New Yorker magazine, and the so-called easier ones from The New York Times.

Lots of fun, but how the heck did anybody completely solve any but the easiest ones without the help of Google?

My dad did crossword puzzles religiously minimum 2 or 3 per day. He retired pretty early in life so he needed to keep his mind active. The Sunday New York Times puzzle is apparently one of the hardest. I tried doing one and got about 1/3-1/2 through it without assistance. He was 3/4+. I'm like how do you know this stuff all these abbreviations etc? His response was years of practice.
He did have a book he used as an aid. I think I may have bought it for him one Christmas.

 

[onomatopoeia]

For example, I see the word "ANTIMONY" in there. All 7 letters were used and they call that a "pangram".

Nope.

A panagram is a sentence which uses all 26 letters of the alphabet at least once. They're most commonly used in the text display for fonts:



The other commonly displayed panagram is Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz.

 

[shack]

Nope.

A panagram is a sentence which uses all 26 letters of the alphabet at least once. They're most commonly used in the text display for fonts:

The word they use to describe a word that contains all 7 letters in the puzzle is called a "pangram". They made the puzzle and its' nomenclature, not me. I'm just the messenger.

 

[onomatopoeia]

This is sort of a mix of crosswords and Scrabble:



Fill the crossword puzzle with any six five letter words.

Scoring:

01 point for each A............14 points for each N.
02 points for each B...........15 points for each O.
03 points for each C...........16 points for each P.
04 points for each D...........17 points for each Q.
05 points for each E...........18 points for each R.
06 points for each F...........19 points for each S.
07 points for each G...........20 points for each T.
08 points for each H...........21 points for each U.
09 points for each I............22 points for each V.
10 points for each J............23 points for each W.
11 points for each K............24 points for each X.
12 points for each L............25 points for each Y.
13 points for each M...........26 points for each Z.