Comments on: Crossword Puzzle Digression http://mathmojo.com/chronicles/2008/03/04/crossword-puzzle-digression/ The Official Blog of MathMojo.com - helping public school, homeschooling, unschooling students, parents, teachers and adults learn math with easy and effective methods. Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:10:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Alex Yaron http://mathmojo.com/chronicles/2008/03/04/crossword-puzzle-digression/#comment-60782 Alex Yaron Fri, 09 May 2008 17:53:10 +0000 http://mathmojo.com/chronicles/2008/03/04/crossword-puzzle-digression/#comment-60782 Having begun doing the puzzles about four years ago, I did notice that, over time, the Monday thru Wed. puzzles got so easy they were not worth doing, and the Friday and Saturday were hard. But I would add that they were hard to the point of sometimes being downright stupid. It is not impossible to make a puzzle impossible. And that is what I think some of the people Shortz chooses shoot for, and that is not challenging, it is merely annoying. Moreover, the Friday and Saturday actually are more in the line of Trivial Pursuit than they are crossword puzzles. I do not feel that googling "the name of Laverne and Shirley's dog's girlfriend's favorite color" is cheating. I could be wrong, but I find it hard to believe that the people working these xword puzzles have spent a lot of time watching Laverne and Shirley! <em>Professor Homunculus sez</em>: Alex, my wife and I feel the same way. That's why we do a lot of the older NY Times crossword puzzles, from puzzle-books, or from the online archives. At least when they did trivia back then, it was something that would stay interesting, like: The Elder Muse for practice (not an actual example). Trivia of classical knowledge at least stays relevant - at least in an esoteric way. Thanks for your thoughtful comment! Having begun doing the puzzles about four years ago, I did notice that, over time, the Monday thru Wed. puzzles got so easy they were not worth doing, and the Friday and Saturday were hard. But I would add that they were hard to the point of sometimes being downright stupid. It is not impossible to make a puzzle impossible. And that is what I think some of the people Shortz chooses shoot for, and that is not challenging, it is merely annoying. Moreover, the Friday and Saturday actually are more in the line of Trivial Pursuit than they are crossword puzzles. I do not feel that googling “the name of Laverne and Shirley’s dog’s girlfriend’s favorite color” is cheating. I could be wrong, but I find it hard to believe that the people working these xword puzzles have spent a lot of time watching Laverne and Shirley!

Professor Homunculus sez:

Alex, my wife and I feel the same way. That’s why we do a lot of the older NY Times crossword puzzles, from puzzle-books, or from the online archives. At least when they did trivia back then, it was something that would stay interesting, like: The Elder Muse for practice (not an actual example).

Trivia of classical knowledge at least stays relevant - at least in an esoteric way.

Thanks for your thoughtful comment!

]]> By: Heather http://mathmojo.com/chronicles/2008/03/04/crossword-puzzle-digression/#comment-45552 Heather Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:53:44 +0000 http://mathmojo.com/chronicles/2008/03/04/crossword-puzzle-digression/#comment-45552 My mom was always a puzzle hound. She loved word puzzles, but I always liked "thinking" puzzles. I never considered crosswords "thinking" puzzles.. but then again I've never tried any hard ones. My son is addicted to those logic puzzles with the graphs. Usually those have solutions in the back that walk you through the logic if you're stumped, and that's why I love them too :) Maybe I'll give crosswords another go. My mom was always a puzzle hound. She loved word puzzles, but I always liked “thinking” puzzles. I never considered crosswords “thinking” puzzles.. but then again I’ve never tried any hard ones. My son is addicted to those logic puzzles with the graphs. Usually those have solutions in the back that walk you through the logic if you’re stumped, and that’s why I love them too :) Maybe I’ll give crosswords another go.

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