Forum > Today's Puzzles
Merry Christmas and Good-bye
magus:
I completed the puzzle today, but as I did, a few things that have consistently annoyed me began to weigh more heavily than usual.
1. Of course, the puzzle ignored our great national holiday; but it was also the worst puzzle of the year, somewhat challenging but meaningless with a clever theme so covert I am sure few if any noticed. Nothing in it gave me pleasure.
2. The LAT supports the deconstruction of the traditions of the vast majority to favor a minority, albeit a powerful one.
3. By commenting daily I have lent some support to the LAT.
From the time I began a few years ago, the daily readership, although small, has about doubled. I know that for some it has been part of their daily routines --- a quick peek at what a solver of the same puzzle noticed or thought about. To them I am sorry I am no longer interested in the LAT because it continues to disappoint.
But to everyone, I wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Magus
Thomps2525:
Would this be the same Los Angeles Times which today ran a lengthy column titled "Naughty and nice of 2015"? The "naughty list" included Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who is a Christian and believes homosexuality is a sin and refused to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The "nice list" included the Supreme Court for legalizing same-sex marriage and the state of Nebraska for abolishing the death penalty. I am not surprised that this leftist newspaper would not have a Christmas-themed crossword. I was slightly surprised, however, that the "Naughty and nice" column ended with these words: "Merry Christmas, everybody. Here's hoping that your nice list is a long one."
The crossword included four familiar phrases but with two consonants reversed:
Word game for beginners? SCRABBLELITE
Memoirs of an African river explorer? IWALKTHENILE
Radial destroyed during testing? SACRIFICIALTIRE
Ordinary little insect? STANDARDMITE
But "It starts in juin" as a clue for ETE? The overuse of the French word for "summer" in crossword puzzles is bad enough, and now it's clued with another French word? And the French word AMI was also in the crossword. My wish for everyone is for a happy Christmas. My wish for crossword creators is that they can find enough English words to fill the grids without having to resort to French, Greek, Latin, Italian, German and Spanish words. My wish for Mister Magus is that he finds another source for crosswords, ones which he will find more challenging. Check out the archived crosswords---easy, medium and difficult---on the website of New York Times puzzle creator Brendan Emmett Quigley. Print them out and have fun!
http://www.brendanemmettquigley.com/hard/
magus:
Thanks, Steve.
Thomps2525:
In the first three months of 2009, almost every post on this thread garnered at least 2,000 views. During the last three months of 2016, most posts get no more than 300 views and hardly any posts elicit responses. For many months after Magus announced on December 25, 2015, that he was no longer going to post here, I kept hoping he would change his mind. He hasn't. December 25, 2016, is only six days away and it is with some regret that I am seriously thinking of following Magus. Millions of people enjoy solving crossword puzzles but I'm pretty much the only one of those millions who posts here. I enjoy sharing word origins and obscure history concerning some of the people and events that appear in crosswords are referred but I feel like the proverbial "voice crying in the wilderness." Does anyone besides me still care about this thread?
Anyone?
DangYankee:
I just joined this forum a few weeks ago and was a bit disappointed as to the low level of communication. I am a new crossword constructor but a long time solver. I, for one, would be happy to post if I feel I can contribute something of value to the discussion.
Mike
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