Ah yes! That was from a day or two ago. Other ones like that could be: “Cold opening?” (CEE), “Center of gravity?” (VEE). “End of times?” (ESS). I don’t know if any of those specific clues have been used, but clues of that nature show up I feel once every week or two. That question mark is there to let you know something’s afoot. It often means some other type of trickery going on, but have a scan to see if the clue can be interpreted in a literal way. Also, there’s often clues that refer to adding a prefix or suffix to a word in the clue, like today’s “Vapor trail?”
As one who has enjoyed the NYT Sunday puzzles for years, I’d say that they are at about a Thursday difficulty, they do have themes, and they occasionally do use gimmicks. But they’re not impossible. Once you uncover what the theme or gimmick or both is, they’re not terribly difficult.
For years I’ve been doing only Wednesday through Saturday. It’s like an addiction. Wednesdays are almost too easy for me now, but once in a while a pretty tough one sneaks in.
Multiple times, on a Thursday, I’ve successfully solved the whole puzzle, filled in every square, and still have no idea what the gimmick is! When that happens, I have to go to the blog to get it explained. Usually that makes me feel like an idiot for not seeing it!
My streak was almost broken a few times when I knew the theme/trick but didn’t know how it wanted me to enter it – sometimes, it’s multiple letters or a whole word, or a symbol – what does it want?
And, I would try everything I could think of and then realize that I had an answer wrong somewhere, fix that, and try it all again.
Note that when the correct answer requires multiple letters (such as a complete word) to be entered in a single letter box, you can instead just enter the first letter of the word.
Yeah, I figured that out over time. Sometimes, it’s a different letter across than down – maybe one goes first? Anyway, it led to some panic when I was in the high 800s or 900s. Now, I just click the “check puzzle” if I’m getting too frustrated.
I like doing the crosswords with Mrs. Cheesesteak. It’s MUCH easier as a team, to the point that Wednesday is barely a challenge, and Monday is a joke.
Of course, like in golf, I’m an inveterate cheat. I’m not playing for money, so if I need to improve my lie, and look up who sang some song I never heard of from 1972, I’m doing it.
Yeah, for those multiple letter ones, I think I’ve only tried the first letter of the across clue, and it’s worked. Not sure if the first letter of the down clue would work, too.
I’m very liberal with “check puzzle” as I don’t have any real active streaks, nor do I have the patience to hammer away at them. (Were I at 900, though, I’d find it very annoying not figuring out how the puzzle wants me to enter the answer.) I try to beat my fastest times, that’s about it. Still can’t quite beat 4 min on Monday. I’m really close. I don’t understand how people do it in two minutes and change as I feel I’m going as fast as I can.
But, yeah, Sunday is said to be Thursday difficulty. I usually find it a hair more difficult than a typical Thursday, though. I also find Sundays too tedious for me, so I don’t really do them anymore, but a lot of people live for Sundays.
I’ve seen YouTube videos where they do it in like 3-3.5 minutes, and it actually seems doable watching it, but doing it myself, the four-minute Monday seems on the edge of possibility.
I’m one of them. No local newspaper carries them, so I buy the collections. I’ve always got one on the go at home, and the collection in my briefcase has helped kill time when flights have been delayed, or other times when I have to unexpectedly wait.
Say, why aren’t you folks participating in the “Crossword Clue Game” over in Thread Games?
