![]() Some of my friends completed every puzzle, while some (like me) completed only a portion. That’s nine puzzles from each era, and 36 overall, which feels like a decent sample size. To test my hypothesis, I asked them to complete the following act of unpaid labor with me (unpaid for them, that is):įinish three weeks of Thursday-Saturday puzzles from 2021, three weeks from 2015, three weeks from 2005, and three weeks from 1995. Some are on roughly equal footing with me, and most are much better-the kind of geniuses who routinely solve Friday and Saturday puzzles in under 10 minutes. Today, it’s extremely rare that a puzzle will stymie me for longer than 20 minutes, Saturday or otherwise, and when it does it’s usually because I’m tired or buzzed or both.įinally, a few weeks ago, I decided to run a live experiment, and for help I enlisted some friends with whom I spend 10-15 minutes each day talking and complaining about Will Shortz’s puzzles on a Slack chat room. ![]() Back then, a tough Saturday puzzle could take up to an hour. The first time it happened, it was a very big deal for me, nerdy as that sounds. Why would I be faster at crosswords?Īnd yet, a decade ago it would have been a real achievement to complete the three hardest days of the puzzle, Friday through Sunday, with no errors. I mean, I have to sit and ponder things now, like an old man on a porch swing. How could I be performing at a higher level today than 10 years ago, when I was a sharp 20-something whose synapses fired like lightning? Yes, it’s technically possible I am getting better at crosswords in general-this conclusion would appeal to my ego-but the futility of the wilting brain in all other walks of life made it seem doubtful. I’ve had a suspicion for a few years now that the New York Times crossword puzzle has become far easier, but the only evidence was that my solving times had improved measurably despite the fact that my late-30s brain now moves at the speed of sludge.
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