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phoopes’s Crossword Calendar

phoopes

phoopes

I did it again
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Hey everyone! As many of you know I love crossword puzzles. So much in fact, that I got an incredible gift from my mom this Christmas: a New York Times crossword calendar! In this calendar, there is a crossword for every weekday, and then one for every weekend too. Idk why they decided to combine Saturday/Sunday into one crossword for the calendar but hey, there’s still a ton of content here so I’m happy. Anyway, this is going to be a weekly blog about my crossword adventures in 2026!

My background in crosswords is mostly doing “easy” ones. USA Today has a bunch of free puzzles online that I can breeze through, though I haven’t consistently done them in awhile. Merriam Webster also used to publish a crossword that I would do pretty frequently which I found a little more difficult than USA Today (mostly because of some esoteric vocab) but I don’t think they publish one anymore, at least not for free. I had never completed an NYT crossword on my own before the last few days, so that’s why this crossword calendar really excites me!

For those unaware of how NYT crosswords “work” in terms of difficulty… Mondays are supposed to be the easiest puzzle of the week. From there, the puzzles get progressively harder until Saturday, which is supposed to be the hardest. The Sunday puzzle is then supposed to be middle-of-the-road difficulty. Wasn’t sure how it was going to work going into this since weekends are combined into one puzzle, but it seems to me like in this calendar Fridays will be the hardest, with the combined weekend one being middle of the road. (I know this because I’m actually a week ahead, couldn’t wait to start lol plus in case I miss a day because I’m busy it gives me a buffer).

What you’ll find in this thread’s weekly posts:
  • A picture of each completed crossword
  • My completion time
  • How many hints I needed, marked by a star (clues that I wouldn’t have gotten without some kind of assistance)
  • My favorite/least favorite clue from each puzzle
  • My favorite/least favorite puzzle from the whole week
Keep in mind that this is the crossword calendar book, not the one from the actual NYT newspaper. I don’t think they’re going to be the same puzzles so if you want to follow along and compare times, buy the calendar, not the paper.

The OP will be edited with links to each post I make in the thread (weekly), with the first post for the short week of January 1st to come shortly. Happy New Year!

…

Week of January 1st
Week of January 5th (coming soon!)
 
Last edited:
Week of January 1st:

I actually started tackling these on Christmas Day right after I got the book haha. As said in the OP, I couldn’t wait and also wanted to have a buffer in case I missed a day or two. Only three puzzles in this post because of the short week, but we got off to a strong start. Anyway, here’s the first puzzle of the year!

Thursday, January 1st:
IMG_2279.jpeg
Completion time: 55:06
Hints needed: 10
Favorite clue(s): 1 Across, 24 Across, 31 Across, 51 Across, and 65 Across
I love a good theme! The antici…pation concept reminded me of Rocky Horror lol, which I unashamedly love. Who knows if that was the intention, but I think it may have been considering the placement of 1 Across starting the puzzle and 65 Across closing it out.
Least favorite clue(s): 10 Across, 31 Across, 13 Down
Basically, seems like I need to study up on my French lol. I had no idea, especially for 10 Across and 13 Down being connected by the L. You could say I took an L on this one haha.

…

Friday, January 2nd:
IMG_2281.jpeg
Completion time: 43:32
Hints needed: 5
Favorite clue(s): 17 Across
I love a good pun/question mark clue! When I figure out the wordplay it’s a great aha moment. And maybe it’s the former bouncer in me, but “highest bar” meaning “lifetime ban” was very funny to me, considering I had to ban people from the bar I worked at (making bar an especially great clue for me).
Least favorite clue(s): 21 Down
I know next to nothing about the state of New Mexico, let alone that it had 25 mountains in it. Seems very specific… maybe Taos is where that hot air balloon festival is? I hadn’t looked it up.

…

Weekend (Saturday January 3rd/Sunday January 4th):
IMG_2282.jpeg
Completion time: 41:14
Hints needed: 7
Favorite clue(s): 14 Across
Just like my last favorite clue, love a good wordplay clue! “Apology tour” for “guilt trip” really scratches that pun itch for me.
Least favorite clue(s): 28 Across
On the other hand, “hole punch” made me kind of roll my eyes a bit. Yes, a hole punch would be an inefficient confetti-making tool. But I don’t consider it a confetti-making tool at all haha. Took me a bit for this one.

…

Overall thoughts:
Short week here. As mentioned in the OP, I had never done an NYT crossword to completion so these felt pretty good even if I did need a good amount of hints… but I think I already got at least a little bit better in terms of time/number of hints compared to the first one of the year where I took almost an hour and needed double digit hints lol. Gotta remember that it was a Thursday one though, so Monday, January 5th should at least be a nice confidence builder (I would think).

Favorite puzzle:
Thursday! Despite having the most “least favorite clues” (curse my lack of French knowledge), it had a great theme with “Anticipation” so this one takes the cake.

Least favorite puzzle:
Weekend. Not a bad puzzle by any means but it had my least favorite clue of the week (“inefficient confetti-making tool”) and didn’t have as good wordplay as Friday’s in my opinion.

…

Here’s to a whole year of crosswords! Thanks for reading
 
So like, do you solve all of these off the top of your head or do you resort to having to look stuff up. I just randomly looked at the hints for the Thursday crossword you posted and there is no way I would've been able to get 52 down based on the hint.
 
Let's go shuckles said:
So like, do you solve all of these off the top of your head or do you resort to having to look stuff up. I just randomly looked at the hints for the Thursday crossword you posted and there is no way I would've been able to get 52 down based on the hint.
Click to expand...
Depends. I try my best to solve everything on my own first and foremost. On my own I’m able to get most of the grid filled out. For the clues that I don’t know, I either look up a hint online, or, failing that, look at the solution that’s on the back of the page. Either way though I mark the clue with a star to show that I needed help. 52 Down in the one you mentioned is one such clue.

Happy to report though since I’m a few days ahead that there have been puzzles that I’ve solved without help! Hopefully that becomes a more regular occurrence as the year goes on.
 
Week of January 5th:

Happy Monday everyone! The first full week of the year concluded so that means you get a full-sized crossword post. Woohoo!

Monday, January 5th:
IMG_2283.jpg
Completion time: 17:07 (a new record!)
Hints needed: 0 (first time this year!)
Favorite clue(s): None tbh, puzzle was kind of too easy IMO. Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come with Monday puzzles...
Least favorite clue(s): None tbh, puzzle was kind of too easy IMO. Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come with Monday puzzles...

...

Tuesday, January 6th:
IMG_2286.jpg
Completion time: 37:51
Hints needed: 7
Favorite clue(s): 7 Down
I like the wordplay hear with "hailing in the streets" referring to a cab driver. Made me smile when I first saw it, especially because I was able to figure out the wordplay right away. Makes me feel smart lol.
Least favorite clue(s): 53 Across, 41 Down
Never in my life have I heard someone be called "eely" in reference to being slippery, or in this case, "hard to pin down." I was able to get it without help but that was one where I was questioning whether that was a real simile/idiom or not lol. Also 41 Down I'm just salty because I had "sexed up" in there for awhile which threw me off (yes I realize the tense in the clue is wrong for it to be "sexed up" but I'm still getting better at these haha)
...

Wednesday, January 7th:
IMG_2287.jpg
Completion time: 28:13
Hints needed: 4
Favorite clue(s): 55 Across
As you can see from the eraser marks, I had this one wrong for awhile actually. My mind immediately went to the old New York Mets stadium, which was "Shea" Stadium. I hit a roadblock then of course, until I realized Arthur "Ashe" Stadium is in the same location. It also made me realize that "Shea" and "Ashe" are anagrams of each other. How about that!
Least favorite clue(s): 50 Across
"Skosh" is a stupid word IMO. Moving on lol

...

Thursday, January 8th:
IMG_2295.jpg
Completion time: 1:00:42
Hints needed: 0 (first time for a back half of the week puzzle!)
Favorite clue(s): 47 Down
As I said last week, I LOVE a good theme. And this one takes the cake for the young year so far. The pirate theme was very clever, with the "i" patch in the upper right, the "hook hand" (flush) in the circled letters in the upper left, and the "peg/leg" swap in the bottom right. It all points back to this clue. I was more patient with this solve than others before, which is why I think I was able to get it done with no hints, but it's also thanks to this (IMO) brilliant theme. God I love well-done crosswords when they're done well.
Least favorite clue(s): None. I was in such a good mood from this puzzle that I can't say anything bad about it lol

...

Friday, January 9th:
IMG_2296.jpg
Completion time: 1:22:39
Hints needed: 9
Favorite clue(s): 1 Across
This one fooled me for awhile in what I would consider a brutally difficult puzzle for me, but it's my favorite because I eventually figured it out. I think it's clever that "red carpet" fits perfectly into where "prayer mat" is the solution, you just have to catch that it is rolled out "faithfully" instead of just "rolled out." Cool clue with how it fits in
Least favorite clue(s): 30 Down
This was my least favorite because it's really something I should've gotten. I took English classes lol, I should have known "logos." And it came to mind at first! But I overthought and told myself, no, logos is Greek for "logic," not "word." Ugh, silly mistake.

...

Weekend (Saturday, January 10th/Sunday, January 11th):
IMG_2302.jpg
Completion time: 1:02:21
Hints needed: 0
Favorite clue(s): 16 Across, 49 Across
I think these are both pretty clever, even if 16 across isn't a question mark/wordplay clue technically. I'm not the best at escape rooms, but I do genuinely enjoy them so once I figured out the "hasty exit" deal I was pretty happy. "Dial tones" for "hang-ups" is just too good though to not include on my favorites.
Least favorite clue(s): 43 Across
On the other hand, "Latte art" for "Mug shots" doesn't quite work IMO. Lattes are in mugs, sure, but idk, I feel like "shots" would refer more to photographs than it would to art in the latte foam. Difference of opinion probably. :shrug:

...

Overall Thoughts:
With this being the first full week of puzzles, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when it came to difficulty. I was very surprised to see just how much it ranged, from Monday's puzzle that was a cakewalk for me, to Friday's which was insanely difficult, taking almost an hour and a half even with a lot of hints. I think Thursday's puzzle made me realize that I'm better at these than I think I am, I just need to be more patient. Sometimes staring at the puzzle for long enough is actually a good thing and I can get an "aha moment" more often than I would realize. This shit is fun.

Favorite puzzle:
Obviously Thursday. The theme was really well executed and I was able to solve a tough puzzle without any hints!

Least favorite puzzle:
Obviously Monday. There was a theme but the puzzle was too easy for me so I didn't even realize it until after I was done.

...

Thanks for reading!
 
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