Frazz by Jef Mallett for October 13, 2019

It starts with an R.

Maybe it’s because Sunday’s crossword is so large that it takes part of Monday and Tuesday to finish it.

Rorschach

Not unlike grade school, where the students begin each autumn having forgotten 90% of what they learned the previous year. But don’t despair, teachers—think of it as job security.

Monday’s are hell, you have to retrain everyone.

No one wants to think too hard on Mondays. Also, the Sunday NYT crossword is a curious thing — it can be both more and less difficult than the late-week dailies because, even though it’s larger, the clues are often punny and contain hints to tha answer, much like a Jeopardy! clue without the ding-dong music, video Daily Double, or Clue Crew. I’ve spent weeks on a Sunday puzzle only to finish the next Sunday puzzle in an hour. It can be both maddening and fun.

Hello Moebius loop.

Anyone thinking of that episode of M*A*S*H where Hawkeye and B. J. needed help with one clue and called in that guy who thought there was an emergency? Vantz!

Rorschach

I love the Thursday puzzle, it’s always quirky

It could also be “publisher” if you interpret “shrink’s ink” a little differently, keeping in mind the state of newspapers these days.

I was thinking about the “ink” hanging on the wall and came up with “Sheep skin” (slang for diploma).

I just don’t have the broad knowledge for crossword puzzles, but I can run through Jigsaw Sudoku fairly quickly, even Sunday’s diabolical.

When you finally give up and look in a reference source for the answer to a crossword entry, it should be an A-ha! moment. If you still don’t get it, I think there’s something wrong with the puzzle. Don’t tell me I can’t use reference sources ‘cuz I’m a librarian and love looking up stuff.

Some answers are a bit of a stretch of the reasoning powers but prove accurate when one turns the problem in a different direction. But some puzzles are so poorly crafted that, no matter the search, the answers have no relation to the clue. There was a site that listed words used in crosswords. It showed several ‘answers’ as not existing in any dictionary. Stretching an answer is one thing. Making one of whole cloth is unprofessional, not to add IRRITATING. But, if it weren’t for the fun and challenge of crosswords, thanks to whomever produces them, my day would be a lot less interesting.

Just proves the NYT thinks like a teacher. EVERYTHING is forgotten over the weekend!

I think the answer, BTW, is Rorschach (found it on Google).

I have to use Google for names of recent cultural icons.

I was hoping for a creative and humorous take on shrinks. It is fertile ground.

The 2006 documentary film Wordplay, featuring Will Shortz (puzzle editor of the New York Times) hosting his annual puzzle tournament, is well worth the rental. Some of the very best on-screen graphics I’ve ever seen in a movie.

The only crossword puzzles I ever bothered with were in Vancouver in the ’70s because they had so much history and geography in them, it was an easy way to learn those in a new land. The constructor was being razzed about how easy they were with comments about their kids doing it in ink. One shut them all up by claiming his kid worked them with a typewriter.

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Then again, it’s possible — and would really be thoughtful of the New York Times — if that’s just a way of discouraging all but the most hard-core of word freaks to leave the crossword alone and get out and do something a little more physical on a Saturday.

rorschach

Actually – Thursdays are the hardest – they always throw rebuses or unusual constructions in. All my streaks have been broken on Thursdays.