Try another Times crossword

petebiddlecombe14th January 2010 at 2:29 PMAnnouncement

The New York Times has a cryptic crossword occasionally in its Sunday edition (2 weeks in every 18 I think – there’s a complex schedule for the type of puzzle that accompanies the large grid US-style puzzle). They’ve decided to make these “variety puzzles” available for free, and you can get the latest one at: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/xword/varietypuzzle.pdf – you’ll need to be fairly quick as this link will presumably link to a different puzzle from Sunday.

This cryptic by Richard Silvestri is very easy in parts, but has some more challenging clues too. It took me 7:55 despite having read about a couple of the clues in an NYT forum already.

8 comments on “Try another Times crossword”

linxit says:

15 January 2010 at 12:00 AM

11:07 here. As you say, mainly easy but a few Americanisms slowed me down a bit. I liked 5D, although it probably wouldn’t be allowed in the Times. It took me a while to see how 13D worked even after I got the answer, ditto 6D. Overall though, an enjoyable solve.
vinyl1 says:

15 January 2010 at 3:55 AM

The NY Times cryptics used to be ridiculously easy, but they have toughened them up quite a bit. There are some good clues here, but they do include features that are not allowed in The Times.

I am so used to The Times daily style, I have trouble adjusting. The living people and brand names certainly offer more possibilities for ambiguity. I also nearly put the British spelling for 1 down.

Shall we blog this in a day or two?
1. petebiddlecombe says:
  
  15 January 2010 at 8:44 AM
  
  I don’t think we need to blog it here – there’s considerable discussion at the NYT’s official blog, “Wordplay”.
kevin_from_ny says:

15 January 2010 at 5:44 AM

I agree with vinyl. They used to be preposterously simple, where I’d go through solving every clue at first glance, but they have toughened up. This took about 10 minutes for me, and while I’m sure I have all correct, I have what I think is a correct entry for 13D but I don’t yet get the wordplay.
Oh. I just saw it. Actually, pretty clever. I doubt that too many UK solvers would see that.
Regards as always.
1. vinyl1 says:
  
  15 January 2010 at 9:30 AM
  
  It was 6 down where I couldn’t see the wordplay for quite a while. Er, what is the national origin of the setter?
  1. petebiddlecombe says:
    
    15 January 2010 at 11:20 AM
    
    As far as I know, Richard Silvestri is from the US. Short pause while I ask someone who should know …
    1. vinyl1 says:
      
      15 January 2010 at 12:11 PM
      
      What I meant was, that his forebears probably came from the country where the language alluded to in 6 dn is spoken.
      1. petebiddlecombe says:
        
        16 January 2010 at 6:00 PM
        
        Apparently so, but I’m told that he doesn’t speak Italian.

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