Litsy

The New York Times Ultimate Crossword Omnibus: 1,001 Puzzles from The New York Times | The New York Times

Kristy_K, DebinHawaii, Mimi28, TheBookHippie, JenlovesJT47, Reggie, vivastory, Itchyfeetreader, jdiehr, CBee, Jari-chan, lil1inblue, julieclair, AnnCrystal, bellabella, BooksandCoffee4Me

willaful My husband and I did a lot of jigsaw puzzles during lockdown. Same sort of psychological soothing, making order from chaos. 5mo

TheBookHippie Oooo I love a good puzzle! 5mo

dabbe @willaful IKR? 😀 5mo

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dabbe @TheBookHippie 🎯🩵🎯 5mo

JenlovesJT47 Ooh this is a fun one! 🖤💛🖤🐝🐝 5mo

AnnCrystal This puzzle drives my crazy😂 brilliant Haiku construction 👏🏼🐝👍🏼🧩🐝💝. 5mo

dabbe @JenlovesJT47 I needed some fun in my life. 🖤🐝🖤 5mo

dabbe @AnnCrystal TY! 🖤🐝🖤 5mo

CBee Love this! 5mo

lil1inblue This is soooo good! Well done! 😍 5mo

dabbe 🖤🐝🖤 5mo

dabbe @lil1inblue TY! 🖤🐝🖤 5mo

julieclair This perfectly captures why crosswords are so satisfying! Well done!! 5mo

51 likes13 comments

Robotswithpersonality

Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle | Anna Shechtman

so-so

I think the most important thing I can do with this review is set the stage for those who are contemplating reading this book. While there are four primary female figures and a few others, arguably part of crossword history, whose life and works are a large part of this book, and the author traces her own work and experience with the world of crosswords, there are also digressions into larger feminist history, 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/ which to a certain extent qualify as context. There is also a fair amount of space devoted to discussing the author's struggles with anorexia nervosa as a young woman, how that paired/fed into her need for order, for controlling the way she was perceived, similarly to her initial pursuit of crosswords. It felt to me like there was an eating disorder memoir in here, trying to make itself heard amongst extensive sections about- what the synopsis 1y

Robotswithpersonality 3/? and subtitle suggest the book will be about - the feminist history of crosswords.
To add to the muddle, while the author calls herself out on her tendency to intellectualize, it doesn't stop her from delving in to the psychological theory of anorexia, various psychologists' work, and unfortunately, a few dips into Freudian analysis which I outright skimmed. 1y

Robotswithpersonality 4/? I think perhaps the author was attempting to outline the struggle, both historically and current day of women to see parity in recognition in the field of constructing and solving crosswords, but it didn't feel especially empowering when the emphasis was on how the early figures, shaped by the values of their time, often saw traditional gender roles as more important than their work, and one of the figures discussed is identified as a TERF. 1y

Robotswithpersonality 5/5 At the very least, while the current statistics are still dispiriting, they are contrasted with coverage of initiatives to improve diversity in the field.
The author's intentions, it now seems clear, were not to provide an inspirational text, but a recognition of the struggle. I just wish I'd known that going in.

⚠️ anorexia, detailed discussion of disordered eating, body dysmorphia, transphobia 1y

11 likes4 comments

Robotswithpersonality

Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle | Anna Shechtman

Love and crosswords. 🥰

7 likes1 stack add

fredthemoose

Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle | Anna Shechtman

pick

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Part dissertation on the intersection of crosswords and feminism, including profiles of several women and LGBTQ+ folk; part memoir of a young woman crossword constructor who worked as an assistant to Will Shorts, including her recovery from anorexia. Parts are thought provoking, but there are a lot of different and not obviously connected threads that sometimes weave together more effectively than others.

45 likes1 stack add

MatchlessMarie

Stalking the Puzzle Lady | Parnell Hall

Stopped at a library I don‘t usually go to and they have a puzzle swap. This is such a cool idea. I hope it catches on with some of the other branches 🥰🧩

TheBookHippie Oh this is lovely!! 2y

AmyG That‘s a great idea. 2y

54 likes2 comments

everlocalwest

Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle | Anna Shechtman

pick

A history of crossword puzzles and feminist wordplay through the lens of the author's struggle with anorexia. Endlessly fascinating and Shectman pulls the intersections off incredibly well.

charl08 Sounds intriguing! 2y

31 likes2 stack adds1 comment

mabell

Chicago Tribune Sunday Crossword Omnibus | Wayne Robert Williams

A relaxing Sunday evening 🛁 - thank you for the bath salts, Chrissy! The grapefruit scent is scrumptious!

I love crosswords, but I‘m picky. I want to be able to guess the answers. 😆 The puzzles in this book strike a pretty good difficulty balance, but my all-time favorites were Maura Jacobson‘s in NY Mag ❤️

Chrissyreadit

LiteraryinPA Maura Jacobson is my favorite too! It was challenging but doable for my family to collectively do while on vacations. 3y

Chrissyreadit 😘😘😘 3y

mabell @LiteraryinLawrence Exactly! That‘s how I felt about them too. I have a small stash, torn out from my old issues, that I save for when I travel! 3y

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mabell @Chrissyreadit ❤️ I hope you‘re still having a fabulous trip! 3y

Chrissyreadit @mabell I am- there is a lot to do in Portland, and my brothers house border a state park- pretty hikes outside the door, and a botanical garden 5 minutes away I have not made it to yet! But we did get to the Japanese garden and Rose Garden! 3y

mabell @Chrissyreadit That sounds absolutely perfect 😍 Portland is on our list to visit! 3y

Chrissyreadit @mabell it is a city of extremes and contradictions- but filled with things to do 3y

mabell @Chrissyreadit That‘s interesting! Not how I pictured it at all. 3y

27 likes8 comments

MatchlessMarie

Puzzled to Death | Parnell Hall

Found this cute puzzle at the thrift store yesterday. Going to try to do some audiopuzzling (sp?) today. Also want to update my Movie/TV totals before my week 2 totals which I will post next.

Only Murders in the Building season finale
The Rookie
Friday the 13th part 3
Castle (3)

+31 pts

#scarathlon2021 #teamslaughter

Clwojick

BkClubCare Audiopuzzling works for me! (But my phone‘s autocorrect wants to separate 😂) 4y

Fortifiedbybooks I have that puzzle! I put it together years ago and framed it to hang up in my little office area. 4y

Clwojick So cute! 4y

49 likes3 comments

Amiable

Puzzled: Secrets and clues from a life in words | David Astle

Well, I WAS going to do some audiopuzzling, but then my son sat down and completed the entire 1,000-piece puzzle in just a few hours. 🤷🏻‍♀️ It‘s pretty, though—isn‘t it ?

AmyG It‘s beautiful. And only a few hours? Wow. 5y

Gissy Pandemic boredom? 🤣😂🤣😂

Beautiful puzzle!😍📚📚📚❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚
Where did you find it? I‘m not a fan of puzzles but that one I can fell in love with it and do it. 5y

LauraBeth I‘m super impressed! I have this puzzle and I ended up bailing on it bc I found it too difficult 😂 5y

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Amiable @Gissy It‘s definitely“trapped at home with Mom and Dad during a pandemic Christmas” boredom. 😀 I think I got the puzzle at SeriousPuzzles.com? (edited) 5y

Amiable @LauraBeth @AmyG This is the son who is an actual, real rocket scientist. I fully expected to spend at least the next few weeks struggling with it on my own. 😄 Now I‘m going to have to take it apart when he leaves and start all over again! (edited) 5y

Lindy 😂👏👏👏 5y

Traci1 Love that puzzle 😍 5y

cozypunk Ok, my mind has been blown! 5y

Tanisha_A 😍 wow 5y

juliekay Your son sounds like my husband. I can sit there for hours trying to find the right pieces. He sits there for an hour and fills in half the puzzle. I like doing them, but I‘m not very speedy at them. 5y

80 likes10 comments

rabbitprincess

Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can't Live Without Them | Adrienne Raphel

pick

A low pick (3.5/5). Some good anecdotes, and the discussion of how to construct a puzzle was really interesting. I was not enamoured with the discursive footnotes (especially not the one with that old myth about posh being an acronym).

22 likes

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