http://beekeeperlabs.com/xwdblog/2008/07/23/puzzle-55-paws-to-reflect/ Themed Puzzles from Beekeeper Labs Mon, 05 Sep 2011 01:15:05 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://beekeeperlabs.com/xwdblog/2008/07/23/puzzle-55-paws-to-reflect/comment-page-1/#comment-776 keeper Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:39:41 +0000 http://beekeeperlabs.com/xwdblog/?p=61#comment-776 The more I review people's reactions to crosswords, the more I find out how extremely relative difficulty rankings can be. One person will breeze through a section in seconds, while the next will find some set of crossing words that are outside his expertise and be stymied for the next 5 minutes. I suspect that what tripped you up on this puzzle were a few incidences of wordplay that were pushing into Thursday/Friday level -- it's easy to see when you don't know a straightforward fact, but a misleading clue can leave you with nowhere to turn. The guy next to you is likely as not to say, "Oh, he probably means..." and fill it in immediately, while possibly being stumped by the straightforward bit of trivia next to it. Since I tend to find (as a solver) that when those clues finally reveal themselves they add a nice bit of satisfaction to a puzzle, so I won't promise to stop putting them in. The more I review people’s reactions to crosswords, the more I find out how extremely relative difficulty rankings can be. One person will breeze through a section in seconds, while the next will find some set of crossing words that are outside his expertise and be stymied for the next 5 minutes. I suspect that what tripped you up on this puzzle were a few incidences of wordplay that were pushing into Thursday/Friday level — it’s easy to see when you don’t know a straightforward fact, but a misleading clue can leave you with nowhere to turn. The guy next to you is likely as not to say, “Oh, he probably means…” and fill it in immediately, while possibly being stumped by the straightforward bit of trivia next to it. Since I tend to find (as a solver) that when those clues finally reveal themselves they add a nice bit of satisfaction to a puzzle, so I won’t promise to stop putting them in.

]]> http://beekeeperlabs.com/xwdblog/2008/07/23/puzzle-55-paws-to-reflect/comment-page-1/#comment-775 Mom Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:22:20 +0000 http://beekeeperlabs.com/xwdblog/?p=61#comment-775 I think this is more difficult than most of yours... What's with the Tuesday/Wednesday? Me I think this is more difficult than most of yours… What’s with the Tuesday/Wednesday?
Me

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