Three years ago, all crossword puzzles except for real easy ones stopped being published in crossword magazine, thus slamming the door shut on a peaceful, pleasant pastime. Sorry, but there’s just no satisfaction in answering “four-letter word for this thing with roots and branches and bark.”
https://leeduigon.com/2015/02/25/proof-that-america-is-getting-dumber/
Update: I am happy to report that a crossword puzzle magazine for literate adults is now being published again–“Solver’s Choice,” by Dell–and we’ve got one! Like, it’s so satisfying to solve a really hard puzzle that makes you work at it!
Thank you, Dell, for coming to realize that there are still some people in America who like to earn their satisfaction.
I subscribe to a number of the PennyPress puzzle magazines, some of which still have a few real crosswords. However, I long ago stopped doing crosswords because they HAD become so routine and/or easy, and now I get the variety puzzle magazines, where I especially like the crostics, syllacrostics, codewords, word games (a kind of crostic with tricky groups of definitions), cross sums, logic puzzles, etc. The crostics are my favorites, and I also get some all-crostics books from Penny Press.
I used to do the NYT crosswords because they were the hardest and it took me nearly a week. Then I stopped because the NYT paper itself became too hot to handle and “fundamentally” tried to “change” me. Thanks for the Dell tip.
I am rationing these puzzles, lest they change their minds again.
It’s a wonderful mental exercise. Long may it wave.