NY Times Crossword
'Tis true, the NY Times Sunday crossword puzzle is nowadays hellishly difficult, more so, it seems to me, than it was just a few years ago, to say nothing of 10 years ago. Or maybe it's just my failing mental capacities. At any rate, the Baltimore Sun prints both the NY Times puzzle and their own Sun puzzle on Sunday. I always start with the Times puzzle and although I almost always succeed in doing the whole thing, I've never done it in less than an hour and a half, and it has taken me as long as 7 or 8 hours (stretched out over Sunday p.m. and a couple more evenings). That done (or maybe done except for a few really tough sections where I am temporarily stumped) I go on to the other one, which takes from 30 to 90 minutes. Doing the easier one often seems to stimulate the old grey cells, since I can than go back to the Times puzzle and hit on something right away that clears up the parts I was stumped on.
For really hellish crossword puzzles, there is the London Times and other British-style crosswords, which have those wierd definitions. They drive me bonkers and half the time the references are to stuff only a Brit would understand, so I no longer even attempt them.
