Crossword poll

[dalej42]

I’m starting a new poll for crossword lovers, this previous one was back in 2003.

Poll For: Crossword Puzzle Fans!

I’ll use the same questions and add one more:

1. Which crossword puzzles do you like best?

2. Ink or pencil?

3. Where/when do you like to do crossword puzzles?

4. What percentage of the puzzle do you usually complete?

5. Your favorite crossword puzzle word?

6. Do you cheat?

7. Favorite crossword pun question(s)/answer(s).

8. Is there a maximum age for a puzzle?

9. The LA Times is my favorite. It seems to have fewer obscure references to 1940s musicals and other such difficult trivia. I do have the NYT crossword calendar as well as a subscription to the Sunday Chicago Tribune. In addition, I do the puzzles in the Chicago Red Eye, which is only published one a week, but has about 6 relatively easy puzzles

10. Ink. I doubt I even own a pencil

11. In the morning, I’ve substituted a crossword for the mindless games I used to play while waking up with coffee. My job is very feast or famine, so I often do them during slow times. I’ll also do them on the bus or train if I don’t have a decent podcast.

12. 75% or more except for Friday and Saturday NYT crosswords. Those are tough!

13. Don’t really have a favorite word, but I enjoy expanding my vocabulary.

14. Yup! With the NYT calendar puzzles, I have a rule that they have to be done by the end of the day, so I’ll start sneaking a peak after 6 PM or so.

15. Don’t really have a favorite one, some of them make me smile, others make me groan.

16. I find that 1995 is pretty much my cut off limit. Too much has changed and there are too many clues that are out of date.

[Inner_Stickler]

1. NYT
2. Don’t care. Nearest writing stick if necessary.
3. I use the NYT app mostly so when I have downtime or am bored.
4. Whole thing.
5. I kind of like ort. A recent puzzle taught me kir for white wine cocktails.
6. I do what I can and then look up things I genuinely don’t know until I can continue. Sometimes putting it aside for an hour or so will help me see answers I couldn’t before.
7. I’m sure there’s been one but I can’t bring it to mind at the moment.
8. I rarely go digging in archives, as it were.

[pulykamell]

1. NYT. Pretty much the only crossword I like.
2. Ink, but no strong preference
3. Kitchen table or, back when I worked in the city, on the El
4. Mon-Wed about 100%. Then it falls off precipitously. Thursday maybe 60% of the time. Friday maybe 20%. Saturday? Not sure I ever finished one. Sunday about 50%
5. I hate crosswordese, but I’ll forever know that ASTA is the Thin Man’s dog
6. No.
7. No idea.
8. No, but I’ve never really dug in the archives.

[Chefguy]

1. Which crossword puzzles do you like best? Sunday NYT and the daily local puzzle that I regularly beat my wife at.
2. Ink or pencil? Ink
3. Where/when do you like to do crossword puzzles? Usually with breakfast, except for the Sunday.
4. What percentage of the puzzle do you usually complete? All of it
5. Your favorite crossword puzzle word? Aton
6. Do you cheat? Usually the Sunday NYT can stump me on a word or two, so yes.
7. Favorite crossword pun question(s)/answer(s). N/A
8. Is there a maximum age for a puzzle? No

[Mean_Mr.Mustard]

1. Which crossword puzzles do you like best? - New York Times Sunday puzzle is the only one I make time for.
2. Ink or pencil? - Always ink. Not because I’m a genius, I just hate pencil.
3. Where/when do you like to do crossword puzzles? - Kitchen table, Sunday morning.
4. What percentage of the puzzle do you usually complete? - 80-100%
5. Your favorite crossword puzzle word? Eno (as in Brian)
6. Do you cheat? - Nope, but I don’t always finish them.
7. Favorite crossword pun question(s)/answer(s).
8. Is there a maximum age for a puzzle? - I hope not
   mmm

[Twoflower]

1. NY Times
2. Keyboard, usually on the iPad
3. Evening, on the couch. Tomorrow’s puzzle is available at 7pm Pacific Time; why wait?
4. I finish the entire puzzle about 95% of the time
5. oreo
6. I’ll occasionally google for some information, like pop musicians or actors that I have no knowledge of, but need when two of them cross & there’s no other way to answer. I don’t really consider that cheating.
7. No particular one, but the Sunday NYT often has good ones
8. Not really, but I rarely dig in the archives

[Llama_Llogophile]

1. NY Times, lately I prefer Sunday puzzles. But if I’m doing the daily puzzles, I won’t bother with a Monday or Tuesday - too easy.

2. Ink

3. In bed at night

4. 90%, 90% of the time. Sometimes less, and often a completion.

5. SST, for the Concorde (supersonic transport)

6. Nope

7. Can’t think of one off the top of my head, but I always mentally tip my hat to the puzzle creator when I see a really good, original, amusing clue

8. Not too old, not too recent either. I don’t like seeing references to last week’s news.

I also really dislike puzzles that are too non-traditional, such as putting two letters in one box. Not opposed to it necessarily, but I think there should be a notation that it’s non-standard.

[jtur88]

1. Which crossword puzzles do you like best?
   –Most newspapers have them getting harder toward the end of the week. I only do F-S-S, early week are too easy. My sister stilll gets the paper and mails me the puzzles. I don’t like the ones puzzle magazines.
2. Ink or pencil?
   –Usually ink
3. Where/when do you like to do crossword puzzles?
   –dunno, home
4. What percentage of the puzzle do you usually complete?
   –Great majority
5. Your favorite crossword puzzle word?
   –na
6. Do you cheat?
   –Only if I have to look up things like the first names of actresses in current sitcolms. But only whem Im stumped
7. Favorite crossword pun question(s)/answer(s).
   –I read about a British puzzle in which the clue was “e” and the answer was
   “senselessness”
8. Is there a maximum age for a puzzle?
   –what?

[pulykamell]

@pulykamell

4. Mon-Wed about 100%. Then it falls off precipitously. Thursday maybe 60% of the time. Friday maybe 20%. Saturday? Not sure I ever finished one. Sunday about 50%

OK, I think I misread this question. This is an answer to how often I complete the whole puzzle.

[Sunny_Daze]

1. Which crossword puzzles do you like best?
   -NYT
2. Ink or pencil?
   -electronic, I do their online app
3. Where/when do you like to do crossword puzzles?
   -travelling
4. What percentage of the puzzle do you usually complete?
   -100%
5. Your favorite crossword puzzle word?
   -ern
6. Do you cheat?
   -sometimes for “cutesy” puzzles that have puzzles within puzzles based on Mongolian hunting traditions (or Broadway musicals - I’m equally adept at both)
7. Favorite crossword pun question(s)/answer(s).
   -probably. heck if I can remember one now…
8. Is there a maximum age for a puzzle?
   -I would think something back to the 60’s

[Voyager]

1. Which crossword puzzles do you like best?
   American variety cryptics, then regular cryptics, then NY Times puzzles. I also do the mini-puzzles on page 3, but in my head. I never have to write anything down to solve them. They are 5 x 5, so trivial.
2. Ink or pencil?
   Pencil
3. Where/when do you like to do crossword puzzles?
   The Times puzzle in the morning, sitting on the couch, with a think cookbook as a leaner. I do a lot of puzzles from Games or puzzle books on the john.
4. What percentage of the puzzle do you usually complete?
   99.99% of these. British cryptics not so good.
5. Your favorite crossword puzzle word?
   Hmm. Oreo, just because the Baltimore paper used to have a NYT oreo watch.
   But not any, really.
6. Do you cheat?
   How do you define cheat? Look at the answers - never. Look up something on line - rarely, and only for Saturday puzzles.
7. Favorite crossword pun question(s)/answer(s).
8. Is there a maximum age for a puzzle?
   Not really. I have a book I inherited from my mother-in-law of old Margaret Farrar puzzles from the very early 1960s. They are of the old style with lots of obscure words. Not nearly as good as the more recent puzzles with more emphasis on word play.

You could have asked for weird solving methods. When I was at the Merriam-Webster contest held in 1986 at NYU I was near one of the top solvers. I noticed that she did the answers in order. I do them Monday, Tuesday and sometimes Wednesday Times puzzles in order by the across clues, sometimes looking at a down clue if I’m stuck but never filling it in. More of a challenge that way.

[Spoons]

1. Which crossword puzzles do you like best?
   – NYT Sunday puzzles.

2. Ink or pencil?
   – Ink always.

3. Where/when do you like to do crossword puzzles?
   – Anywhere, anytime. I’ve usually got a puzzle in my briefcase, so if I find myself with time to kill waiting for an appointment, or in a coffee shop, or during a delay at the airport, or similar situations, I’ve got a puzzle with which to kill time.

4. What percentage of the puzzle do you usually complete?
   – All of it usually.

5. Your favorite crossword puzzle word?
   – OONA (Charlie Chaplin’s wife).

6. Do you cheat?
   – Not normally. I might need help if the clue leads to something I don’t know (the name of a Russian opera, for example), and any letters from cross words aren’t helping, but that’s about it.

7. Favorite crossword pun question(s)/answer(s).
   – I don’t have any favorites that come to mind.

8. Is there a maximum age for a puzzle?
   – No. New or old, they’re all fun.

[Dewey_Finn]

@Voyager

You could have asked for weird solving methods. When I was at the Merriam-Webster contest held in 1986 at NYU I was near one of the top solvers. I noticed that she did the answers in order. I do them Monday, Tuesday and sometimes Wednesday Times puzzles in order by the across clues, sometimes looking at a down clue if I’m stuck but never filling it in. More of a challenge that way.

I do that sometimes.

I only do the NYT puzzles. Originally, I only did Sunday through Thursday, but a couple of years ago, I started to do the Friday puzzles. And then I had to go back and do the Friday puzzles for previous years. And I use neither ink nor pencil, instead solving them on my computer using the AcrossLite program.

And yes, I cheat from time to time.

[TriPolar]

1. NYT Sunday because they come in a big book with hundreds of them.
2. Ink. Pencil points break and I don’t keep a pencil sharpener in the bathroom
3. Sitting on the toilet in the morning.
4. 100% eventually
5. Don’t really have one
6. No
7. Nothing in particular
8. No

[Gary_T]

1. Which crossword puzzles do you like best?
New York Times Thursday through Sunday
**
2. Ink or pencil?**
Ink.

4. What percentage of the puzzle do you usually complete?
100.

6. Do you cheat?
I occasionally Google stuff I’ve never heard of.

7. Favorite crossword pun question/answer.
Clue: Second person in the Bible.
Answer: Thou.

[Thudlow_Boink]

@dalej42

1. Which crossword puzzles do you like best?
2. Ink or pencil?
3. Where/when do you like to do crossword puzzles?
4. What percentage of the puzzle do you usually complete?
5. Your favorite crossword puzzle word?
6. Do you cheat?
7. Favorite crossword pun question(s)/answer(s).
8. Is there a maximum age for a puzzle?

1. Indie crosswords (for example, those by Brendan Emmett Quigley among others), and Thurs-Sun “newspaper” crosswords.
2. (Mechanical) pencil!
3. Other times too, but I almost always do a couple first thing in the morning. It helps my brain wake up and gives me something to look forward to when I get out of bed.
4. Usually all. Occasionally all but a square or two. Sometimes, with the really tough ones, I give up without making much headway at all.
5. None.
6. Only when necessary.
7. Can’t think of one off the top of my head.
8. Not strictly, but I prefer more recent puzzles (as long as they don’t have too many rappers in them) to older ones.

[panache45]

1. NYT Sunday only. I’m working my way through a book of 200 of them.
2. Until recently, ink. At my current age, I’ve switched to pencil.
3. In the bathroom.
4. At least 95%.
5. Ayn, only because I knew her.
6. Only with certain proper nouns that cross each other.
7. The “Spiderman” puzzle, with a lot of I’s down the middle, ending with a spider in the bottom square.
8. No.

Sometimes I do the clues in order; other times I spiral in from the periphery toward the center.

[Icarus]

1. Which crossword puzzles do you like best?
   Like? I dunno. I do various LA Times and NY Times.

2. Ink or pencil?
   Ink

3. Where/when do you like to do crossword puzzles?
   LA Times Sunday while flying. NY Times app in the evenings.

4. What percentage of the puzzle do you usually complete?
   LA Times Sunday 100%. NY Times app 100%. When I try the occasional Thur-Fri LA Times I only get to 60%, they get progressively harder as the week goes on.

5. Your favorite crossword puzzle word?
   Don’t have one.

6. Do you cheat?
   Occasionally when the crossing words are both completely obscure and I have no chance of figuring out the vowel.

7. Favorite crossword pun question(s)/answer(s).
   I’ve certainly enjoyed many over the years, but I don’t retain that kind of information.

8. Is there a maximum age for a puzzle?
   I don’t usually go into archives. Recently there was one from 1946(?) in the NYT app and OMG! So many of the references were just completely obscure to me. And many of the regular vocabulary ones were not words I had ever heard in my many years on this planet. I couldn’t imagine that an average well read individual of the time would have known them either. But what do I know?

[RealityChuck]

1. Cryptic crosswords. Prefer those by Lovatt.
2. Online
3. On my computer.
4. 90-100% I’ll usually quit if if get stuck and have only one or two clues left.
5. None
6. No
7. I do cryptics. There are too many to choose from.
8. No.

[Gus_Gusterson]

1. Any I can get my hands on. I find lots of unused puzzle books at the local library’s book sale. I do the Boston Sunday Globe puzzle (easy). I don’t have access to the NYT puzzles (does everyone pay for them?). When in Ireland I do the cryptic crosswords in their newspapers. I get Games magazine and especially like their cryptic crosswords.

2. Ink.

3. If I’m home and don’t have anything else I need to do I’m probably doing a crossword puzzle.

4. Almost always 100%. I will stick with a puzzle for as long as it takes, going back to it for days if necessary. The only time I don’t finish a puzzle is if it has crossing clues which are really obscure.

5. I don’t have a favorite word. Having done so many puzzles, I’m just happy when I see a new word since I see “ani”, “adze”, “eno”, “oona”, “eon”, “alee”, “asea”, “erato”, and the like so often.

6. No.

7. This is a cryptic clue but I think it would be fine in a regular puzzle too: “Unwound artist”. I’ll leave it unanswered for now.

8. One of the puzzle books I got from the library was published in 1998 and some of the clues were about people who I’m pretty sure were mostly forgotten even then. So puzzles can be too old. I still completed almost everything in the book.