My Year with the NYT Crossword
So, I’ve been doing the New York Times crossword pretty regularly for a while now. It’s kind of my morning thing, you know, with coffee. Last year, I got this idea stuck in my head: what if I actually kept track of it? Not super seriously, just a little log to see how I did over the whole year. Seemed like a neat little project.
Getting started was dead simple. I didn’t use any fancy apps or anything. I just opened up a basic spreadsheet on my computer. Nothing complicated, seriously. I made columns for the date, the day of the week (because Monday is way different than Saturday, right?), whether I actually finished the puzzle, and roughly how long it took me. Sometimes, if I got totally stuck or needed a hint, I’d jot down a quick note about it too. Just kept it straightforward.
Then came the actual doing part. Every day, or most days anyway, after wrestling with the clues, I’d pop open that file and type in the info. Took maybe 30 seconds. Some days I’d fly through it, feeling like a genius – especially early in the week. Put down a quick time, marked ‘Finished’, felt good. Other days, maybe a Thursday or a Saturday, hoo boy. Felt like my brain was wading through molasses. I’d stare at a clue forever. Sometimes I finished, sometimes I didn’t, and the spreadsheet reflected that. It was interesting seeing the ups and downs right there in the log.
Looking Back at the Data
After the year was up, I took a look back at my little spreadsheet. It wasn’t like I discovered some earth-shattering secret, but it was kinda cool to see:
- Consistency: I actually stuck with it more days than I thought I would. Seeing that long list of entries felt like a small accomplishment in itself.
- The Difficulty Curve: Yep, the Monday-to-Saturday difficulty ramp-up is real. My times clearly showed that climb, and the ‘Finished?’ column had more ‘No’ entries towards the end of the week. No surprises there, but neat to see it quantified for myself.
- Slow Improvement?: Maybe I got a tiny bit faster overall? Hard to say for sure without getting all statistical, which I didn’t want to do. But it felt like some of the mid-week puzzles that used to stump me got a little easier over time.
- Streaks: Had a few decent streaks where I finished every puzzle for a couple of weeks straight. Always felt good marking those down. Also had streaks where I barely finished any!
Was It Worth It?
Yeah, I think so. It didn’t change my life or make me a crossword champion overnight. But it was a simple, satisfying little ritual. Just having that record makes the daily puzzle feel a bit more connected, like part of a bigger picture for the year. It was just a personal thing, a way to mark the passage of time with clues and grids. Didn’t cost anything, didn’t take much effort, just a quiet way to track a hobby. Might even do it again this year.
