# The SDMB Crossword Tourney **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 7, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753 "2005-02-07T03:36:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/21 "2005-02-07T22:15:55Z")
Since I couldn’t access the Yahoo puzzle, I did today’s Tribune Media services, Inc. in my local paper, and solved it the way I described in a previous post along the lines that the crazy commuter suggested: I ignored the clues entirely and stared at the grid, looking for the pattern. The themed answers immediately flew to mind and I wrote them in: DUPLICATE BRIDGE IDENTICAL TWINS SAMEOLDSAMEOLD and MATCHING OUTFITS Then, with a doff of my tinfoil hat, I worked just the verticals to fill in the rest of the puzzle. 8 minutes, no mistakes. And for **Twickster** and other doubters, there was the same recurring phrase in this and today’s New York Times puzzle: PATRIOTSWINBYTHREE Try explaining that away. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/22 "2005-02-07T22:24:54Z")
Doubter? [sub]fnord[/sub] Moi? ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/23 "2005-02-07T23:16:09Z")
**Antiochus** , you did the long ones without looking at the clues and without doing any other words first? That is highly impressive. I did that same puzzle, only it was in the LA Times (I do them online), but I did it my way, of just starting from wherever and going through. It took me 2.5 minutes. But typing is a lot faster, and I certainly went about it a much easier way than you did. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/24 "2005-02-08T00:01:28Z")
> [@audiobottle](#): > > **Antiochus** , you did the long ones without looking at the clues and without doing any other words first? That is highly impressive. I did that same puzzle, only it was in the LA Times (I do them online), but I did it my way, of just starting from wherever and going through. It took me 2.5 minutes. But typing is a lot faster, and I certainly went about it a much easier way than you did. **audiobottle** , it was a joke - a parody of an experience I actually had on a commuter train with a weirdo who saw puzzle solving as a mystical experience… Please see post 10 above. But today’s puzzle did take me 8 minutes. But what the hell, I’m probably retarded. And I referred to all the clues ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/25 "2005-02-08T00:06:36Z")
ahh… sorry I missed the joke. I did read the original story, but I really thought you had managed to do it like that. I was actually being serious in my praise before. Although I’m wondering if we did do the same puzzle - I don’t remember the phrase “Patriotswinbythree” in the one I did. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/26 "2005-02-08T01:01:29Z")
> [@audiobottle](#): > > ahh… sorry I missed the joke. I did read the original story, but I really thought you had managed to do it like that. I was actually being serious in my praise before. Although I’m wondering if we did do the same puzzle - I don’t remember the phrase “Patriotswinbythree” in the one I did. That, too, was a joke. We’ve arguing kidding back and forth that the recurring words in, say, the LA Times and the Yahoo puzzle, are not accidental, but subtle communiques from one constructor to others. **Twickster** , who is a professional xword puzzle editor, excoriates the True Believers such as myself for these fanciful theories. We meekly submit to her tongue lashings. Sadly, **Twickster** has been known to resort to violence. You probably didn’t notice the phrase in the LA Times that I quoted. You must look carefully. Very carefully. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/27 "2005-02-08T02:23:39Z")
> [@Antiochus](#): > > We meekly submit to her tongue lashings. Sadly, **Twickster** has been known to resort to violence. Sweetie, I’m not sure “violence” is the right word when you’re talking about consenting adults. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/28 "2005-02-08T18:06:46Z")
Okay, everyone, Yahoo got its crap together, and the Tuesday puzzle is [here](http://games.yahoo.com/games/gen/cwpuz/puz_050208.html) The race is on! ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/29 "2005-02-08T19:06:54Z")
Not so good: 13:14. I did better on some of the old ones. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/30 "2005-02-08T19:14:40Z")
Not good. 15:45. Damn…I had some sub-10:00 ones with the older puzzles. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/31 "2005-02-08T23:48:38Z")
I got a 10:12 online. I think I might try to print it and do it tomorrow: I’m not perfect at getting the direction quite right, and I walked over a couple of answers by mistake. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8491ac/32.png) [@GorillaGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaGirl)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/32 "2005-02-09T00:46:36Z")
Monday’s is available, too. Monday = 12:07 Tuesday = 11:24 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/33 "2005-02-09T01:23:13Z")
Bah. 19:04 for Monday’s. In my defense, it’s been at least a year since I’ve done a crossword at all, so I need to get up to speed again. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/34 "2005-02-09T01:32:22Z")
14:34. I had big problems with the long ones. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/35 "2005-02-09T01:35:18Z")
10:03 for Tuesday’s. Getting better… ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/36 "2005-02-09T01:49:06Z")
Out of curiosity, is anybody else using Firefox and having problems with it all crashing when you try to load up a puzzle? It’s happened to me twice now. Sometimes the puzzle will load up fine, and others it will just stop Firefox completely. I’ve never used Yahoo for anything so I’ve never had this happen before. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/37 "2005-02-09T02:25:13Z")
> [@audiobottle](#): > > Out of curiosity, is anybody else using Firefox and having problems with it all crashing when you try to load up a puzzle? It’s happened to me twice now. Sometimes the puzzle will load up fine, and others it will just stop Firefox completely. I’ve never used Yahoo for anything so I’ve never had this happen before. I did mine on Mozilla. I’ll try Monday’s on Firefox when I get home. Earlier today when I tried it I was having Java applet issues, but I was going through my vpn, so I don’t know if that affected anything. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/38 "2005-02-09T04:03:47Z")
19:01 for Monday. 22:01 for Tuesday. Those are pretty hard. The Times was easier both days. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/39 "2005-02-09T04:15:26Z")
> [@audiobottle](#): > > Out of curiosity, is anybody else using Firefox and having problems with it all crashing when you try to load up a puzzle? It’s happened to me twice now. Sometimes the puzzle will load up fine, and others it will just stop Firefox completely. I’ve never used Yahoo for anything so I’ve never had this happen before. Just did the Monday puzzle on Firefox with no problems. 10:31 for Monday. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753/40 "2005-02-09T04:21:02Z")
Drat. I didn’t even see this thread until just now. Is it too late to enter? For what it’s worth, I did the Feb. 8 puzzle in 7:05. (Being the suspicious type, I took a screen shot showing the time.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-crossword-tourney/288753.md?page=3)