Crossword Fiend | Reviewing the best crosswords in newspapers and on the Web

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Amy Reynaldo

AV Club tk (Amy) 5*: 11 | 4.5*: 4 | 4*: 1 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 1 | 2.5*: 1 (4.53 avg; 19 ratings)
NYT 3:08 (Amy) 4.5*: 5 | 4*: 4 | 3.5*: 6 | 3*: 10 | 2.5*: 3 | 2*: 8 | 1.5*: 2 (3.05 avg; 38 ratings)
LAT 4:45 (Gareth) 5*: 3 | 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 12 | 3*: 1 | 2.5*: 1 (4.08 avg; 19 ratings)
CS 9:43 (Ade) 4.5*: 1 | 4*: 1 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 2 (3.58 avg; 6 ratings)

AV Club is a contest puzzle, so no write-up today. If I’d known it was going to be a contest puzzle (and for all I know, Ben totally announced that the week before the way Peter Gordon does for Fireball contests), I would’ve held off on its ratings widget till the write-up was done after the contest. Oh, well…
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged C.C. Burnikel, D. Scott Nichols, Gail Grabowski, Zhouqin Burnikel | 6 Comments

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Amy Reynaldo

NYT 3:20 (Amy) 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 8 | 3.5*: 4 | 3*: 8 | 2*: 1 (3.52 avg; 23 ratings)
Jonesin' 3:16 (Amy) 4*: 1 | 3*: 1 | 1*: 1 (2.67 avg; 3 ratings)
LAT 3:00 (Amy) 4.5*: 1 | 4*: 5 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 3 | 2.5*: 1 | 2*: 1 (3.46 avg; 13 ratings)
CS 9:19 (Ade) 4*: 2 | 3*: 5 | 2.5*: 1 (3.19 avg; 8 ratings)
Xword Nation untimed (Janie) 4*: 3 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 1 (3.70 avg; 5 ratings)
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged David J. Lieb, David Poole, Elizabeth C. Gorski, Matt Jones, Tony Orbach | 16 Comments

Monday, April 6, 2015

Posted on April 5, 2015 by pannonica

NYT 3:42 (pannonica) 5*: 8 | 4.5*: 21 | 4*: 8 | 3.5*: 4 | 3*: 2 | 1.5*: 1 (4.27 avg; 44 ratings)
LAT 3:10 (pannonica) 5*: 5 | 4*: 3 | 3.5*: 6 | 3*: 1 | 2.5*: 2 | 2*: 2 | 1*: 1 (3.55 avg; 20 ratings)
CS 7:47 (Ade) 4.5*: 1 | 4*: 4 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 1 | 2*: 1 (3.61 avg; 9 ratings)
BEQ 5:24 (Amy) 5*: 3 | 4.5*: 6 | 4*: 2 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 2 | 2.5*: 1 (4.13 avg; 15 ratings)
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Brendan Emmett Quigley, Bruce Venzke, Finn Vigeland, Gail Grabowski, Randolph Ross | 21 Comments

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Amy Reynaldo

NYT 11:14 (Amy) 5*: 2 | 4.5*: 3 | 4*: 10 | 3.5*: 3 | 3*: 12 | 2.5*: 5 | 2*: 2 | 1.5*: 4 | 1*: 3 (3.08 avg; 44 ratings)
LAT 11:07 (paper) (Andy) 5*: 1 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 2 | 2.5*: 3 | 2*: 2 | 1.5*: 2 (2.64 avg; 11 ratings)
Reagle 14:12 (Sam) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 1 | 4*: 3 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 4 | 2.5*: 1 | 1*: 3 (3.04 avg; 14 ratings)
Hex/Hook untimed (pannonica) 3.5*: 1 (3.50 avg; 1 rating)
CS untimed (Ade) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 4 | 4*: 5 | 3.5*: 1 | 2.5*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 | 1*: 4 (3.21 avg; 17 ratings)
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Bob Klahn, Emily Cox, Henry Rathvon, Kurt Krauss, Merl Reagle, Tom McCoy | 33 Comments

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Posted on April 3, 2015 by Amy Reynaldo

Newsday 8:37 (Amy) 4*: 2 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 2 | 1.5*: 1 (3.17 avg; 6 ratings)
LAT 6:29 (Amy) 4.5*: 1 | 4*: 2 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 3 | 2.5*: 3 | 1*: 3 (2.79 avg; 14 ratings)
NYT 6:28 (Amy) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 8 | 3.5*: 6 | 3*: 6 | 2.5*: 3 | 1*: 1 (3.46 avg; 27 ratings)
CS 12:46 (Ade) 4*: 1 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 3 | 2.5*: 1 (3.17 avg; 6 ratings)
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Brad Wilber, Bruce Venzke, John Lieb, Ned White | 37 Comments

Friday, April 3, 2015

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Amy Reynaldo

NYT 4:25 (Amy) 5*: 13 | 4.5*: 22 | 4*: 10 | 3.5*: 2 (4.49 avg; 47 ratings)
LAT 5:35 (Gareth) 5*: 3 | 4.5*: 3 | 4*: 5 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 3 | 2.5*: 1 | 1*: 1 (3.78 avg; 18 ratings)
CS 7:51 (Ade) 4*: 4 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 3 (3.56 avg; 9 ratings)
CHE 4:24 (pannonica) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 1 | 4*: 10 | 3.5*: 4 | 3*: 1 | 2.5*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 (3.71 avg; 19 ratings)
WSJ (Friday) 11:53 (pannonica) 4*: 2 | 3*: 1 | 2.5*: 2 | 2*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 (2.79 avg; 7 ratings)
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Damien Peterson, George Barany, Jim Quinlan, Marcia J. Brott, Patrick Berry, Randall J. Hartman | 19 Comments

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Amy Reynaldo

NYT 4:46 (Amy) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 11 | 4*: 8 | 3.5*: 7 | 3*: 8 | 2.5*: 2 | 2*: 3 | 1.5*: 1 | 1*: 1 (3.54 avg; 42 ratings)
Fireball 8:07 (Amy) 5*: 2 | 4.5*: 7 | 3*: 2 (4.32 avg; 11 ratings)
LAT n/a (Gareth) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 5 | 4*: 7 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 1 | 2.5*: 1 (4.00 avg; 17 ratings)
CS 12:14 (Ade) 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 2 | 2.5*: 3 | 2*: 2 (2.72 avg; 9 ratings)
BEQ 6:56 (Ben) 5*: 1 | 4*: 6 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 3 | 2.5*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 (3.50 avg; 13 ratings)
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Brendan Emmett Quigley, Gareth Bain, Joe Krozel, Sarah Keller, Timothy Polin, Trip Payne | 17 Comments

Fireball Newsflash Crosswords: Kickstarter deadline looms

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Amy Reynaldo

Portrait of Peter Gordon drawn by his daughter and screenshotted from his Kickstarter video without permission. (It’s a cute video!)

Do you like puzzles of roughly Tuesday to Wednesday NYT difficulty? Do you like to keep up with current events? Do you perhaps compete in trivia contests and so you could use a little boost in remembering the names in the news? Peter Gordon’s Newsflash crosswords are for you.

For as little as a $6 pledge (or more if you’d like to receive things like crossword books or a Fireball Crosswords baseball cap), you’ll get 20 topical puzzles, sent roughly every other week.

The Kickstarter deadline is this Saturday, so check it out quickly! These are not tough Peter Gordon puzzles like the Fireball, so don’t be daunted. They’re fun daily-size crosswords and I do them to attempt to stay competitive in Learned League trivia.

Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Fireball Newsflash Crosswords, Peter Gordon | Comments Off

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Amy Reynaldo

AV Club 5:32 (Amy) 5*: 16 | 4.5*: 3 | 4*: 3 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 3 (4.54 avg; 26 ratings)
NYT 3:55 (Amy) 4.5*: 4 | 4*: 6 | 3.5*: 10 | 3*: 11 | 2.5*: 1 | 2*: 3 | 1.5*: 3 | 1*: 1 (3.18 avg; 39 ratings)
LAT 3:57 (Gareth) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 4 | 4*: 10 | 3.5*: 3 | 3*: 1 | 2.5*: 1 | 2*: 1 (3.86 avg; 21 ratings)
CS 8:54 (Ade) 4*: 3 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 2 | 2.5*: 1 (3.44 avg; 8 ratings)
Fireball 7:41 (Amy) 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 3 | 2.5*: 3 | 2*: 1 | 1*: 1 (3.15 avg; 10 ratings)
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Aimee Lucido, Daniel Nierenberg, Martin Ashwood-Smith, Peter Gordon, Sharon Delorme | 18 Comments

Kickstart BEQ’s Marching Bands puzzle project

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Amy Reynaldo

Brendan Emmett Quigley likes making Marching Bands variety crosswords, and he’s offering a biweekly puzzle subscription via Kickstarter. A mere $10 is the minimum pledge that will get you all 26 puzzles, available in PDF and JPZ form (the JPZ is kinda neat because you can, if memory serves, fill in upwards and backwards words and have the cursor moving in the direction you want). To sign up or to get more info, click over to his Kickstarter page.

Brendan’s pretty well assured of making his goal so this isn’t a “please save this project from looming failure” post but a “heads up if you want in on a good thing” post.

Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Brendan Emmett Quigley, Marching Bands | 1 Comment

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Monday, April 6, 2015

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Friday, April 3, 2015

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Fireball Newsflash Crosswords: Kickstarter deadline looms

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Kickstart BEQ’s Marching Bands puzzle project

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