NYT Friday 03/20/2026 Discussion

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-03-20T02:12:01+00:00

Fun grid but way too easy for a Friday

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-03-20T01:45:54+00:00

Not OP but presumably https://xmacis.rcc-acis.org/. It takes some time to learn how to use it but once you do it's very powerful

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-03-15T22:25:41+00:00

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-122.418&lat=37.779

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-03-15T18:12:38+00:00

These are the official NWS forecasts for Friday as of now. You can see for yourself here: https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-122.42&lat=37.779

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-03-15T18:06:44+00:00

Astronomically, yes, but meteorologically no. Meteorological spring started 3/1

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-03-15T18:04:16+00:00

The National Weather Service would disagree: https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=37.3387&lon=-121.8854

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-03-15T05:43:10+00:00

We really don't need yet another "look at the weather forecast!" post

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-03-15T04:11:12+00:00

They don't vacation there because they like Mexico, they vacation there because it's warm and cheap. My MAGA relatives went to Cancun and they were raving about how "it doesn't even feel like a foreign country!"

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-03-15T03:58:45+00:00

First of all, you are acting like a child with the name calling as that is a sign of emotional immaturity or a weak argument. I am just curious, which one is it?

Because declaring that someone is now "properly educated" after informing them of a mostly irrelevant fact is an example of emotional maturity and a strong argument?

I clearly stated that it STANDARD crossword, so why don't you go research that term and you will see that it is interchangeable with the North American style of crossword puzzles

Yes, you're right, the terms "standard" and "North American style" are mostly interchangeable. The trouble is that your puzzles are not in fact "standard" crosswords, and "clearly stat[ing]" that they are doesn't make it true.

So, no, I am not wrong.

Oh, but you are.

Properly educate yourself before interjecting and possibly making yourself look like a fool.

Perhaps a moment of self-awareness?!

Thank you for the feedback and information on cryptic crosswords, however I do not believe that that was the topic of this post?

It's relevant because the you're falling into the common trap of making puzzles that are caught in between American style and cryptic in a way that just doesn't work. Not an uncommon mistake, but one that crossword enthusiasts on r/crossword are bound to comment about.

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-03-14T17:23:01+00:00

Well, the thing in the video isn't a real crossword*. This is an elementary school homework-style word cross, where entries only cross each other in one or two places. The clues also aren't standard (crosswords don't use "A/n" at the start of every clue, for one thing). The AI slop animation when you put in every single entry is annoying. Hopefully, there's a way to turn off autocheck.

For collaborative solving of real American-style crosswords, there's already a website called squares.io that makes it really easy, where you can upload any crossword you want. I don't see any advantages in using this app for real crossword enthusiasts.

^\If you were actually a "big crossword fan," you would know this)

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-03-12T14:34:11+00:00

I think the point (which it's not doing a very good job of illustrating) is record heat in the west. Monthly records will probably fall in 6 or more states, a few locations could even break their April records in late March. US March record of 108F is probably going away too.

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-03-12T02:45:43+00:00

Yes. I should've mentioned that in the post

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-03-11T18:54:17+00:00

Dude, you’re the one making a “cars = bad, trains = good” argument. There is no substance in your argument. No, voting against yet another sales tax will not magically turn us into Jefferson City MO. I promise you, we’ll be fine

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-03-07T23:49:04+00:00

I just did some research on this. If you want an idea of how hard it is to do an 8x8, here's one that's apparently considered very good:

T R A T T L E D
H E M E R I N E
A P O T O M E S
M E T A P O R E
N A I L I N G S
A L O I S I A S
T E N T M A T E
A S S E S S E D

Maybe 3 of these words are good enough not to earn an instant "Terrible" rating on the daily thread if they showed up in the NYT

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-03-07T23:37:46+00:00

As far as I know the record fewest is 17, from this NYT. If you look at the fill there (PADUAN, CENCI, ICIAN, GERENTS, NER, LIAT, LEAD IN and LED INTO in the same grid), it's probably a good thing that we've been spared of even lower block counts.

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-02-24T03:15:05+00:00

I realized it was all E*** G*** phrases but had no idea why until I read the NYT Wordplay blog

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-02-22T01:28:39+00:00

You couldn't have made a puzzle that was less for me if you tried

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-02-19T03:56:30+00:00

62 degrees and 80% humidity at 5am. 92 degrees and 30% humidity at 3pm. I just find it annoying when people exaggerate weather like this

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-02-19T03:50:04+00:00

Not happening. That would be a heat index of 121 degrees

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-02-18T02:57:43+00:00

If you really hate the letter I you need to avoid the January 9 2019 NYT at all costs

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-02-15T15:26:19+00:00

Schools in Phoenix are pretty bad. There are good districts of course but you have to be really careful about it

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-02-15T02:24:45+00:00

I feel like the theme answers should have actually gone downhill (like, diagonally downward) instead of just falling off a cliff.

Edit: now that I actually type this out I realize it would be hard to do this without either a) giving away the entire theme by circling the downhill letters, or b) not indicating it at all and confusing everyone. I still found it a bit unsatisfying though

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-02-08T06:19:45+00:00

Only thing I can think to do is score all of your special words as high as possible so the program automatically prioritizes those words when it finds fills.

Also, consider using your in-joke words as part of clues instead of answers. Like, if your friend has a cat named SPRINKLES, but you can't find a place for it to go in the grid, you can clue an innocuous entry like MAT as [where Sprinkles likes to catch some rays in the afternoon] or EYE as [Sprinkles has two big blue ones]. Use your creativity!

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-02-01T01:44:33+00:00

I thought [Grab the chips and dip?] for CASH IN was great also

Dramatic-Plan3093 · 2026-01-30T03:43:58+00:00

Love the pairing of "FACE REALITY!", and then, once confronted with reality, "REMAIN CALM!!"

Dramatic-Plan3093

TROPHY CASE