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I got a small package I wasn't expecting from an unfamiliar address, but the sender "Shortz" was curious. Then I opened it to find a signed book of crosswords from Will Shortz himself! 15 minutes of excited confusion later, I realized that I had won a drawing and hadn't realized it at the time. What a great surprise!

Spoilers are welcome in here, beware!

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A weekly, open discussion about crosswords and word puzzles, or anything else /r/crossword might be interested in this week.

Please refrain from spoilers or use the spoiler format by putting a spoiler between >! and !< like this:

There's a >!spoiler in here!<

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I have a regular NYT subscription and the NYT games subscription for the crossword. Is there any way I can share that subscription with my daughter or do I have to buy her a separate one?

Hi. We have a very entertaining cryptic quiz thrust through our letterboxes every year. Generally, quite good but often, tricky to disentangle! I'm looking for help. The clue I'm missing is defined as "A dance" or "Dance style". (No letter or word count, unfortunately).

'Sounds like PA's order to his lass's admirer, Danny, to scarper'.

Blimey. Any ideas?

What comes to your mind when seeing "English crosswords" title?

Do you view it as crosswords with English language or crosswords with English(UK) style and background?

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I got it, but my brain got stuck for a sec :D

Sorry I know this is the right place - but adjacent.

Is The New York Times trying to tell me that Bryan Ferry (whom I’ve never heard of) deserves to be in the same sentence as Freddie Mercury, Stevie Nicks, and Robert Plant?

I wanted to buy a midi pack with my google play credits but it's just a blank screen when I clock on the packs button, and it's been this way since the update. Anyone else have this issue or know a fix?

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hi! i've been solving puzzles for a while but i've only recently started making my own. if somebody could help me better understand what really differentiates a good puzzle from an average one, that would be super super helpful

any other resources are also v v much appreciated

thank you!

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I'm a fairly new constructor and I think I jumped the gun when I submitted an early puzzle to the NYT. I was feeling quite sure of myself, but I've learned SO much since that time (a long, long two weeks ago). My puzzles are much stronger and cleaner now, and I kind of don't want their first impression of my work to be the flawed puzzle I submitted. Plus, it's taking up one of my three queue slots when I'm 99% positive it will be a rejection. And of course I don't want to waste their time!

Would it be tacky to write a follow-up email and ask them to just remove it from the queue? Does that draw more negative attention than them just seeing a flawed submission?

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Makes me crazy when the author doesn't know what a word means. Just did a puzzle where "OAR" was defined as "canoeist's need". I've been canoeing for well over 50 years, and never once used an oar. A PADDLE is not an oar.

Rant ends.

Fill Me In is a podcast about crossword puzzles, though there's the other periodic nonsense you'd expect from two puzzle guys bantering for a while. New episodes of Fill Me In come out every Tuesday morning.

This week, Ryan and Brian are each a little pestier than usual, and ... okay, being real, Brian was super grumpy and Ryan wasn't making things any better. No Kealoa this week, but there is a useless fact, plus a Thunder Round of non-NYT puzzles.

Want to know more about our show? Visit our wiki! And enjoy new episodes every Tuesday morning.

Apple Podcasts • RSS Feed • fmi@bemoresmarter.com • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram

Any ideas about this game ?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobinavel.crossword

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Hi!

I downloaded Crossword Jam+ on Apple Arcade & have enjoyed it a lot.

I’ve had it for probably a month now & have solved puzzles each day. It’s been fun and relaxing-but-challenging.

I’m noticing it’s getting to be somewhat repetitive, but I really want to someday finish it.

Wondering if anyone has completed the game? Or even half of it?

If you play, what level are you on?

Has NY Times ever published how many people solve the Crossword Puzzle on a daily basis or the average solve times?

I'm also curious if anyone knows how large the user pool is for XWStats (xwstats.com). I consider myself a reasonably fast solver (5:01 on today's Monday puzzle), but I'm consistently slower than the median solve time on xwstats. I assume it's a very small subset of hobbyist or avid solvers who sync their time to XWStats but am really curious how many people we're talking about.

I think Puzzmo's approach to crosswords is a lot of fun, and it's also a gentle introduction to crossword puzzles for beginners. Brooke Husic is the editor.

Here's their pitch:

Cross|words for everyone

On Puzzmo we do crosswords a little differently — friendlier, more modern, and easier to learn.

• No need to look something up! Just hit the hint button for an easier clue.

• Whats up with the |? Sometimes crossword answers contain multiple words, bolded lines show you where the spaces are (we call them spacebars!).

• Check out the Play Together button. Crosswords are easiest to get into with a friend!

Experienced solvers can click on the "Options" button in the upper right and turn off the features they don't want, or just scroll to the bottom of the option and click the "Pro solver" button.

The crossword and some of the other puzzles are available without a subscription.

(I have no connection to Puzzmo other than being a subscriber and big fan. I'm also a mod for /r/puzzmo which isn't very active but I'm hoping to change that.)