Do you do crossword puzzles? I used to do them all the time, and then I slowly set them aside when I became addicted to quilting. I resumed doing the puzzle in the Chicago Tribune earlier this year, on-line. There are times when I have a few extra minutes, and I pick up a book of New York Times puzzles and try to wade through one.
\nWhy is it that the first time you work a tough puzzle, you can stare at the blanks and not get a thing, and when you walk away in frustration and come back later, answers fall into place with ease?? I frequently feel that “Duh!” response, when the answers are obvious and generally easy. Is it just that I’m working against myself, expecting the answers to be a lot harder?
\nI’m VERY glad that I took Latin. It amazes me how many times an answer to a clue will be a Latin word. Many times, I can guess the answer to a Spanish, or Italian word because it’s related to Latin.
\nIt’s odd, but I find that the vertical clues are easier. You’d think that seeing the boxes in a pattern other than our usual left to right, would make it more difficult. I tend to fly through the puzzle starting from the upper left (Northwest) corner, and answer as many of the horizontal clues as I can. Then I make a run through the vertical clues. More than half of the answers will fall into place on the vertical clues. The hardest clues for me are those that pertain to the young stars who are likely to be found on the pages of “People” magazine. I admit it…..I’m an old fogy.
\nYears ago, the editors of the puzzles provided information concerning how many words made up the answer. Now, they limit their advice to “var.” (variation) or different ways of indicating that the answer is an abbreviation.
\nToday, one of the answers was “music.” In another life, I was a band director, so you might expect me to find all the music clues easy. WRONG!! I over-think the clues, and they are often the last clues I answer. I dread having someone assume that I will get all the music questions. In fact, I can usually guarantee that I’ll miss anything that took place between 1975 and 1990, and a lot of the more recent stuff, too. I’ve got COOKING terms down, though! lol<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Do you do crossword puzzles? I used to do them all the time, and then I slowly set them aside when I became addicted to quilting. I resumed doing the puzzle in the Chicago Tribune earlier this year, on-line. There … Continue reading