Little heavier on gunk ( ABOU, EENY, ASSTDA, GSU, OBE, etc.) than I'd like, but essentially inoffensive. They're not cool words, they're either f'd up versions of words ( SNAFUED?) or compound words made out of words you know even if the results are not (in my case) words you know. But the answers themselves aren't that interesting-two of them ( SNAFUED, DEWBERRIES) basically scream 'I Have A Giant Wordlist In My Constructing Software' (see also TREEBOA). it's got that grid, and all the longer answers running through it. The grid has a ton of visual interest, i.e. It is a sacred space where cool *crossword* things happen. Again, the puzzle is not a child's placemat. I don't want to play a game after I'm done solving. This is a classic example of a 'look at my architectural feat!' puzzle that doesn't really hold any actual *solving* interest for the solver.

I don't (it turns out) so much like BOGGLE in my crosswords. If I played BOGGLE online today, there'd just be some app that was mining my computer or phone for data it could sell to Facebook or something.

I'd forgotten we did this until this very moment. When Kathy got a job and moved away from Ann Arbor, we would play BOGGLE over email*-shake out a grid, send a representation of it to the other person, then set the timer and send our answers to each other when the time runs out. Kathy and I also played the Charlie's Angels board game, but that's another story. I used to play with my friend Kathy a lot, back in the Later Grad School years, when I would do anything, literally anything, not to be writing my dissertation (see my 2700-book vintage paperback collection, for instance). If it's also given you someone to shout at in disagreement, that's OK too. I hope it has enhanced your solving pleasure, giving you something to look forward to even (especially?) when the puzzle lets you down, and someone to celebrate with when the puzzle is wonderful. OK now I'm just channeling Jim McKay from the '70s-era introduction to 'Wide World of Sports,' but I do hope this blog has provided some insight, some entertainment, some commiseration, some solace, some sense of regularity during what are obviously pretty tumultuous and often lonely times. The standard US crossword grid is 15x15, and now Rex Parker is also 15! Rex Parker, spanning the grid to give you the constant variety of crossword commentary: the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat (dum dum dum DUM!) The human drama of. 15 is also a pretty important crossword-related anniversary-maybe the only important crossword-related anniversary. 2021 was an important year for me, as my blog (this blog, the one you are reading right now) turned 15 years old!.

I do not use crack crossword clue