Measure Twice, Cut Once
This is more like it. I have no idea how long it took me to finish this morning’s puzzle. What I can say is that I could feel my heart rate … slow … down. Away from the pressure of a ticking clock, I entered into a state of free association, where options offered themselves for consideration. The non-starters politely walked away and the keepers sat down with confidence. Cross-checking answers before entering, like a good carpenter, makes for a neatly filled grid with no cross-outs, which is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.
posted by DO at 10:17 PM
2 Comments:
cross-checking? That's so ... tentative. What's wrong with taking leaps of faith or intuition?
P.S. pencils have erasers.
I got in trouble for assuming 31D was BOILWATER, which seems more important than BOILANEGG for "Lesson #1 in cooking."
Other cross-outs were all through the upper right. 20D's "fellow travelers" were TENTMATES instead of SEATMATES, the "alien landscape" in 22A started out as EROSE instead of EERIE, and 26A's "Cut" was SNIP instead of SAWN. I also crossed out ALABAMA at 16A at one point, but it ended up back in.
Still, I did the puzzle (while proofreading, so it's not even warp speed) in just over 6 minutes. Sorry, I won't mention times again.
I do cross-check, and look at every definition, across and down.
Daily nitpicky discussions of the NYT puzzles can be found on the nytimes.com crossword forum, if you're not already reading it.
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