NYT Mini Crossword Leaderboards

[S209]

6 down

[Euclid]

6 down

Actually made me wonder about the etymology of the word. Why it's also used for a different biblical thing.

etymonline.com has an interesting connection

[S209]

One of the easiest in a while tonight, IMO.

[Euclid]

One of the easiest in a while tonight, IMO.

Yeah. Have been pretty tough recently

[Euclid]

Been quite a while since I've gotten sub 0:20. Def seems like they've been making them harder

[S209]

Been quite a while since I've gotten sub 0:20. Def seems like they've been making them harder

You’re right, I just went back and did a couple of old ones and did them in 30 seconds or so. They are getting harder.

[ckmk47]

You’re right, I just went back and did a couple of old ones

How do you do old ones?  Are you subscribed?

[Euclid]

How do you do old ones?  Are you subscribed?

Yes you need a subscription. Free with Amex Platinum

[Euclid]

"unfriendly" one today

[Yehuda57]

Let the record show that I beat @Euclid by 1 second the other day

[Euclid]

this is definitely how it felt like playing with Babe Ruth in the 1920s. Different stratosphere

[S209]

this is definitely how it felt like playing with Babe Ruth in the 1920s. Different stratosphere

What do you mean?

[Euclid]

What do you mean?

@skyguy918 is in a league of his own. Consistently orders of magnitude better than anyone else

[JoeyShmoe]

@skyguy918 is in a league of his own. Consistently orders of magnitude better than anyone else

I think s/he plays on 2 different accounts, finishes it on one like a normal person and then just copies the letters to his regular account. I couldn't even read it and type it all in 18 seconds...

[Euclid]

I think s/he plays on 2 different accounts, finishes it on one like a normal person and then just copies the letters to his regular account. I couldn't even read it and type it all in 18 seconds...

https://www.nytimes.com/puzzles/leaderboards/invite/f7c6726c-4740-4e4e-8a67-46fa0b80baaa

That was me, and no I did not use 2 devices. Today was nearly 10-15 seconds, as I entered the first 4 across clues immediately, and filled out the 5th by looking at the downs.

ETA: I was really into the full NYT crossword at various points in HS and college.

[JoeyShmoe]

Will have to take his word on this

[skyguy918]

First of all, I think I'm at the top maybe half the time at most, and a bunch of people have been getting consistently better since we started this. An average day for me is 30-40, the best days are sub 20, and the worst crack 60-90. If you happen to catch a day where you know all the clues right away, sub-20 is very doable - and I've seen a few people get that here at one point or another. Both the reading and typing speeds get faster the more you do this (or any reading/typing activity where you're trying to get faster and faster for that matter).

Funny you quoted that post, since today was nearly the same setup for me as that one - skipped 1 across (only ever had a fruit flan, so never would've gotten that), got 5, 6, 7, 8 right away (8 was a guess but turned out right) and then filled in the top row via the downs.

[Euclid]

Lol I discovered an easy way to cheat.


I'll make a video tonight

[Euclid]

https://streamable.com/wdwwyg

I realized that on the iPhone when you background the app the clock stops, even if not fully in the background yet. This one would've taken me about 40-45 seconds without this cheat. Instead I got :04 lol

[Euclid]

I recently discovered I can download old leaderboards. I downloaded the leaderboards starting from March 22, 2022 - date of the first post and extracted the following data points. Raw data attached.


Average Score (ignoring 0 and didn't play)

user	average score
skyguy918	34 seconds
yos9694	48 seconds
BioBook	56 seconds
Euclid	66 seconds
SrulyS	72 seconds
S209	75 seconds
Yitzgar	80 seconds
YitzyS	110 seconds
USam	123 seconds
ckmk47	132 seconds
Yehuda57	136 seconds
JoeyShmoe	137 seconds
GoGreen	155 seconds
Avromie	171 seconds
yuneeq	201 seconds

Median Score (ignoring 0 and didn't play)

user	median score
skyguy918	31 seconds
BioBook	43 seconds
yos9694	43 seconds
Euclid	46 seconds
S209	55 seconds
SrulyS	60 seconds
Yitzgar	61 seconds
GoGreen	85 seconds
YitzyS	93 seconds
Yehuda57	96 seconds
USam	102 seconds
JoeyShmoe	109 seconds
ckmk47	122 seconds
yuneeq	133 seconds
Avromie	140 seconds

Ranking totals (top 3)

user	rank	count
S209	1	97
skyguy918	1	93
Euclid	1	63
GoGreen	1	53
yos9694	1	48
Avromie	1	35
SrulyS	1	23
Yehuda57	1	10
JoeyShmoe	1	7
Yitzgar	1	6
BioBook	1	5
USam	1	5
yuneeq	1	3
ckmk47	1	1
Euclid	2	98
skyguy918	2	88
S209	2	82
yos9694	2	41
Yitzgar	2	32
SrulyS	2	17
BioBook	2	13
GoGreen	2	8
USam	2	8
JoeyShmoe	2	5
YitzyS	2	5
Avromie	2	4
Yehuda57	2	3
yuneeq	2	3
ckmk47	2	2
S209	3	97
Euclid	3	69
yos9694	3	38
skyguy918	3	34
Yitzgar	3	26
GoGreen	3	23
Yehuda57	3	19
SrulyS	3	18
USam	3	17
BioBook	3	16
YitzyS	3	8
JoeyShmoe	3	7
Avromie	3	5
ckmk47	3	4