Heads-up on fun! The Boswords Spring Themeless League (an online crossword tournament) starts with the preseason puzzle and Twitch broadcast on Monday at 9 pm Eastern, and then everyone competes on a new themeless every Monday in March and April. Three difficulty levels: Stormy, Choppy, and Smooth compare to the ACPT final’s A, B, and C clues. If you think Twitch is a mysterious thing that’s just for kids these days, know that you can sign up for free on Twitch, and that’ll let you both view the live Boswords videos (which include fun mini-movies from Boswords’ Andrew Kingsley, games, watching a guest solver work the puzzle, and interesting interviews with constructors and guest solvers—a highlight is asking each interviewee for their favorite crossword memory) and chitchat with other participants in the text chat window. Andrew and cohost John Lieb run everything smoothly, the constructors are good, and editor Brad Wilber massages each puzzle’s three sets of clues. The link above has more info and the registration buttons. Oh! And if Monday nights don’t fit your schedule, you can watch the interviews etc. later and solve on Tuesday or Wednesday.
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If you don’t know by now, the NY Times Games site will stop offering Acrostic and Variety puzzles in digital versions on their website, and all archives will no longer be accessible. According to an email received from them, the ability to download and print these puzzles will be discontinued on February 26th, and the ability to access the archive will stop after March 1st.
If you would like to express your displeasure at this move, write to either NYT Crossword Care or directly to the Games team. According to the email received from them, they are still “collecting feedback on this change,” so please make your voice heard. As most of you know, Acrostics are far easier to solve online when compared to print, and posting pdfs of Variety puzzles should be a simple affair even if interactive versions were to stop.
Note: No WSJ due to the holiday. Happy Presidents’ Day to those who celebrate.