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

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Amy Reynaldo

NYT 9:57 (Amy) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 4 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 7 | 2.5*: 6 | 2*: 3 (3.16 avg; 25 ratings)
Reagle 8:19 (Amy) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 4 | 4*: 1 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 1 | 2*: 1 (3.94 avg; 9 ratings)
LAT 7:41 (Amy) 4*: 2 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 1 | 2.5*: 1 | 2*: 2 (3.00 avg; 7 ratings)
Hex/Hook 9:02 (pannonica) 3*: 1 (3.00 avg; 1 rating)
WaPo 14:45 (1 error) (Sam) 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 2 | 3.5*: 4 | 3*: 2 | 2.5*: 3 (3.42 avg; 13 ratings)
CS 27:11 (Ade) 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 4 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 1 | 2.5*: 2 (3.64 avg; 11 ratings)

News from the West Coast! At Crosswords LA, Eric Maddy emerged victorious from a tough finals puzzle by David Quarfoot. Jordan Chodorow placed second and John Beck third. Congrats, gentlemen, and congrats to tournament organizer Elissa Grossman!
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged David Phillips, Emily Cox, Frank Virzi, Henry Rathvon, Jeff Chen, Merl Reagle, Todd McClary | 13 Comments

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Amy Reynaldo

NYT 7:16* (Amy) 5*: 2 | 4.5*: 6 | 4*: 8 | 3.5*: 4 | 3*: 2 | 2.5*: 2 | 2*: 1 | 1*: 1 (3.73 avg; 26 ratings)
Newsday 6:27 (Amy) 4.5*: 1 | 4*: 6 | 3.5*: 1 (4.00 avg; 8 ratings)
LAT 3:03 (Andy) 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 6 | 3.5*: 3 | 3*: 2 (3.81 avg; 13 ratings)
CS 12:52 (Ade) 3.5*: 4 | 3*: 1 | 2.5*: 1 (3.25 avg; 6 ratings)

Tournament news! The Crosswords LA tournament runs this Saturday morning and afternoon. Wish I could be there! I had a blast working with the constructors on a fabulous set of crosswords.

And the Indie 500 tournament has set a date and place: Saturday, May 30, at George Washington University in D.C. The event’s being put together by five indie constructors: Erik Agard, Evan Birnholz, Peter Broda, Neville Fogarty, and Andy Kravis. The constructors will be those five plus another chosen via a competition, which is a nifty way to do it.
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Crosswords LA, Evan Birnholz, Indie 500, Julian Lim, Lester Ruff, Patrick Jordan, Stanley Newman | 26 Comments

Friday, October 17, 2014

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Amy Reynaldo

NYT 4:45 (Amy) 4*: 11 | 3.5*: 6 | 3*: 7 | 2.5*: 1 | 2*: 4 | 1.5*: 1 (3.27 avg; 30 ratings)
LAT 7:02 (Gareth) 4.5*: 1 | 4*: 5 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 2 | 2.5*: 1 | 2*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 | 1*: 1 (3.18 avg; 14 ratings)
CS 8:32 (Ade) 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 1 | 2.5*: 2 | 2*: 3 | 1.5*: 1 (2.38 avg; 8 ratings)
CHE 10:13 (pannonica) 4.5*: 1 | 4*: 1 | 3.5*: 2 | 2.5*: 1 (3.60 avg; 5 ratings)
WSJ (Friday) 4:37 (pannonica) 4.5*: 1 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 4 | 2.5*: 1 (3.21 avg; 7 ratings)
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Bruce Venzke, Jim Holland, Michael Ashley, Pancho Harrison, Randolph Ross | 15 Comments

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Amy Reynaldo

Fireball 9:49 (Amy) 5*: 2 | 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 1 | 3.5*: 2 (4.29 avg; 7 ratings)
NYT 4:30 (Amy) 5*: 2 | 4.5*: 10 | 4*: 11 | 3.5*: 8 | 3*: 5 | 2.5*: 4 | 2*: 2 | 1*: 2 (3.59 avg; 44 ratings)
LAT 4:26 (Gareth) 4.5*: 1 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 5 | 2.5*: 2 | 2*: 1 (3.05 avg; 11 ratings)
CS 11:41 (Ade) 4.5*: 1 | 3.5*: 4 | 3*: 2 | 1.5*: 1 (3.25 avg; 8 ratings)
BEQ untimed (Matt) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 1 | 3.5*: 3 | 2*: 2 (3.61 avg; 9 ratings)

Over at his Devil Cross puzzle site, Evan Birnholz has written a righteous polemic against the underwhelming fill ALER(S) and NLER(S). Check it out.
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Brendan Emmett Quigley, Bruce Venzke, Donna S. Levin, Gail Grabowski, John Farmer, Victor Barocas | 38 Comments

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Posted on October 14, 2014 by Amy Reynaldo

AV Club 5:52 (Amy) 5*: 2 | 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 2 | 3.5*: 3 | 3*: 1 (4.05 avg; 10 ratings)
NYT 3:07 (Amy) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 3 | 4*: 13 | 3.5*: 7 | 3*: 2 | 2.5*: 1 | 2*: 2 (3.71 avg; 29 ratings)
LAT 4:10 (Gareth) 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 2 | 3.5*: 4 | 3*: 6 | 1.5*: 1 (3.37 avg; 15 ratings)
CS 13:58 (Ade) 4*: 1 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 3 | 2.5*: 2 | 2*: 1 (2.94 avg; 8 ratings)
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Ben Tausig, C.C. Burnikel, David Poole, Tony Orbach | 20 Comments

MGWCC #332

Posted on October 14, 2014 by Evad

crossword 5-6 mins
meta a few minutes 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 4 | 4*: 2 | 2.5*: 1 (4.19 avg; 8 ratings)
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | 13 Comments

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Amy Reynaldo

Jonesin' 3:17 (Amy) 4.5*: 2 (4.50 avg; 2 ratings)
NYT 3:07 (Amy) 4*: 7 | 3.5*: 7 | 3*: 6 | 2.5*: 4 | 2*: 2 (3.25 avg; 26 ratings)
LAT 2:59 (Amy) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 1 | 4*: 7 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 4 | 1*: 1 (3.59 avg; 16 ratings)
CS 10:55 (Ade) 4*: 2 | 3*: 3 | 2.5*: 1 | 2*: 2 (2.94 avg; 8 ratings)
Xword Nation untimed (Janie) 5*: 2 | 4.5*: 2 (4.75 avg; 4 ratings)
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Adam G. Perl, Elizabeth C. Gorski, Jacob Stulberg, Matt Jones, Raymond Hamel | 14 Comments

Muller Monthly Music Meta, October

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Matt Gaffney

puzzle untimed; meta about 10 minutes (Matt) 5*: 2 | 4.5*: 6 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 1 (4.35 avg; 10 ratings)

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Posted in Daily Puzzles | 6 Comments

Monday, October 13, 2014

Posted on October 12, 2014 by pannonica

NYT 3:22 (pannonica) 5*: 3 | 4.5*: 11 | 4*: 10 | 3.5*: 3 | 3*: 2 | 2.5*: 2 | 2*: 2 | 1*: 1 (3.85 avg; 34 ratings)
LAT 3:28 (pannonica) 5*: 2 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 6 | 2.5*: 2 | 2*: 4 | 1.5*: 1 | 1*: 1 (2.76 avg; 17 ratings)
CS 8:58 (Ade) 4*: 5 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 2 (3.67 avg; 9 ratings)
BEQ 4:31 (Amy) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 4 | 4*: 3 | 3.5*: 4 (4.08 avg; 12 ratings)
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Brendan Emmett Quigley, Carol Hacker, Greg Johnson, Randolph Ross | 5 Comments

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Posted on October 11, 2014 by Amy Reynaldo

NYT 7:19 (Amy) 4.5*: 4 | 4*: 5 | 3.5*: 6 | 3*: 6 (3.67 avg; 21 ratings)
Reagle 6:48 (Amy) 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 2 | 2.5*: 1 (3.90 avg; 5 ratings)
LAT 7:07 (Amy) 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 2 | 2.5*: 2 | 2*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 | 1*: 1 (2.38 avg; 8 ratings)
Hex/Hook untimed (pannonica) 3*: 1 (3.00 avg; 1 rating)
WaPo 11:59 (Sam) 5*: 2 | 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 6 | 3.5*: 1 | 2*: 1 (4.04 avg; 12 ratings)
CS 21:36 (Ade) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 4 | 3*: 1 | 2.5*: 1 (3.94 avg; 9 ratings)

Joshua Kosman, coconstructor (with Henri Picciotto) of the delightful cryptics at The Nation, was kind enough to interview me for their Word Salad blog. (See if you can guess which question I added to the list Joshua had emailed me.)
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Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Alan Arbesfeld, Doug Peterson, Henry Hook, Matt Skoczen, Merl Reagle, Patti Varol, Pawel Fludzinski | 10 Comments

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Friday, October 17, 2014

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

MGWCC #332

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Muller Monthly Music Meta, October

Monday, October 13, 2014

Sunday, October 12, 2014

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