Sat., 4/18 Barry C. Silk

[Thomps2525]

There is no theme in today's Los Angeles Times crossword but there are only 27 black squares. Nine of them are individual squares running diagonally. Quite a few puzzles lately have included several black squares individually or in a diagonal line. It's nice to see crossword creators coming up with different grids than the standard ones which were so common a few decades ago.

Today's crossword includes three foreign words: IDEES, SRI and ZED. *Sigh" It also includes NEARMISSES for "lucky breaks." The term is usually used in reference to airplanes in flight...but wouldn't a "near miss" be a hit? That is how I interpret the phrase...and I'm never wrong.

Except when I am.

[magus]

Rewind---

If you want to post your own commentary on a day's puzzle, might it be better if you chose a different format (day, date, constructor) for the "Topic"?  Maybe something like "Rewind's Saturday..."

[Thomps2525]

Mister magus, this has happened three times now. I go to the Cruciverb site and there is no thread for that day's puzzle. I start one...and then the next day I discover that you had started one earlier. Obviously there is some kind of glitch (a software engineer's term meaning "I have no idea what the heck is wrong") which occasionally prevents the latest thread from appearing on my lil' computer. When that happens, I start one and, to be consistent, I maintain your style for the topic. I blame the Cruciverb software, AOL and Microsoft Windows (in that order).

Instead of starting a new thread for each day's puzzles, do you think it would be better to have just a single ongoing thread for all the puzzles?

[Thomps2525]

Mister magus, two years ago another site---name available on request---had a lot of software problems for several weeks. Hundreds of posts disappeared. Some later returned, often within just a few minutes, but many didn't. Also, several posts would disappear and then reappear on a different thread. It was very frustrating. We might respond to someone's post and then the next day his post would disappear. Then our posts made little sense. The problem was eventually fixed and the site is now trouble-free. Whatever infected that site must have been contagious and Cruciverb.com caught it!

[Thomps2525]

Well, I'm going to discuss the April 20 crosswords on this thread about the April 18 crosswords. The reason? When I opened this forum just now, I saw no April 20 entry from Mister magus but, considering that three times I have started a new thread for a specific day's puzzles and a day later discovered that magus had started one---but for some reason it didn't appear on my lil' computer screen---I'm assuming there is already a thread for today's crosswords, even though it isn't showing up when I open this forum.

Twice, each time during a 30-day period, I have compiled a list of the most common words in crosswords. Both lists are posted on this site---Go look! In the past week, the word BRA has appeared in four different puzzles. The word is used much more frequently now and will likely soon join EEL, IRA, IRE and LEI at the top of the list.

There are five words which appear in both the Times and Daily News puzzles today. That could be a record---if indeed anyone keeps track of such things. Both puzzles included EDYS, EWERS, HOE, OOZE and TAO.

And how about SNICKER as the answer to "Tee-hee"? Shouldn't the answer be GIGGLE?

[Thomps2525]

Me again. I still do not see any April 20 thread from Mister magus when I come to this forum. If he did indeed start one today, perhaps it will show up tomorrow. In the 1940s we had "gremlins." In the 2010s we have "glitches."

One of the words in today's Times crossword is TRAY. The clue is "Seatback airline feature." What exactly is a "seatback airline"? The clue should have said "Airline seatback feature." And if I want to be really technical, I could insist that the "seat" is the part we sit on and the back of it is not a seat. At least I couldn't sit on the back of it.

[magus]

Instead of starting a new thread for each day's puzzles, do you think it would be better to have just a single ongoing thread for all the puzzles?

No --- I asked that you use your own format to start a new thread.  On a separate note, you may have realized that after years of doing so I have stopped posting Monday and Tuesday puzzle commentaries because they continue to be designed for newbies and speedsters and not for more experienced solvers.  (This may be your big chance!)