Wednesday, June 11, 2008 Puzzle by Daniel Kantor, edited by Will Shortz LIEABILITY (62A. What 17-, 23-, 37- and 51-Across may demonstrate?), along with IDIDNTDOIT (17A. Prankster’s denial); WONTHURTABIT (23A. Doctor’s assurance); JUSTWHATIWANTED (37A. Gift recipient’s declaration); and ITSINTHEMAIL (51A. Debtor’s avowal) are the inter-related entries of this Wednesday expose -- notice ININK (66A. One way to solve a crossword) lurks directly below and FALSE (57A. Fabricated) sits above LIE-ABILITY! Lies fly around the internet crossword community about speed in solving, which it seems is equated to intelligence -- credulity is stretched to the length of Pinocchio’s nose at the height of his prevarication. Take today’s puzzle for instance -- on the “Play Against the Clock” top ten puzzlers for “Fastest” the times are listed as 2:13, 3:05, 3:14, 3:15, 3:23, 3:39, 3:40, 3:47, 4:03 and 4:16. I took today’s puzzle and experimented -- results: Typing time from completed copy of puzzle -- 1:58; writing time (in ink) from completed copy of puzzle -- 1:40. Reading the clues for across -- 1:00. Reading the clues for down -- 1:10. Thinking time -- NONE! Thinking time? One blog on many occasions has bemoaned that the solver lost 10 seconds on the clock due to not being able to recall this or that or pondering some never-heard-of-it-ever entry or clue; and yet the time listed is less than it takes to read the clues and type or write them onto the grid. Who takes the time to time how much time one loses by not knowing something -- is an egghead-timer nearby? Do these desperate people use a stop-watch? Is thinking time excluded? Is the whole point of doing a crossword to time the amount of time it takes to enter in the blank squares? Is pre-reading the clues an acceptable practice? Or pre-solving? It certainly seems to be! Finally -- who do they think they are kidding? In today's crossword’s words -- it’s not what anyone wanted, it’s not in the mail, it will hurt, they did do it, and the claims of lightning speed are patently FALSE (57A. Fabricated). …and so, so tired!------------------ For today’s cartoons, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.
