NYT Games: Lavender Room: Slowtwitch Forums (2024)

Oct 23, 23 12:30

Oct 23, 23 12:43

I wake up before my wife, and I go to Wordle first. Takes me all of five minutes. Then I do the Spelling Bee; if I can't get to Genius level quickly, I'll revisit it off and on during the day. When I get stumped, I'll look at the hints for new directions. Next might be the crossword, which depending on the day takes five to fifteen minutes. Connections next if I feel like it: another five minutes. Finally, Sudoku when wife is off to work: another five to ten minutes.

Good clean fun. I go for speed on the crossword and Sudoku.

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"Go yell at an M&M"

Oct 23, 23 12:44

Wordle and Connections when I first wake up. Later, I do Letter Boxed (I really like this one), The Mini, the Crossword and Spelling Bee. I definitely use the Bee Buddy for hints on SP. Same with the crossword. No help on the others. And yes, I sit in front of a computer screen all day.

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Oct 23, 23 12:46

I typically do them before I go to work in the morning. Although the mini crossword I noticed resets at 10 pm eastern so I do it before bed.

Do I cheat? I am not sure what exactly you mean. If I am stumped on a crossword clue that I will never get and I can't complete the puzzle, I will look it up. I consider that a fail if I need to do that.

Connections? I have googled something on occasion to make sure it means what I think it means. Is that cheating? I don't consider that a fail.

My favourite game is Octordle Rescue.

How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Oct 23, 23 13:00

I generally get my coffee, log on for work to see if there is anything urgent and then spend about 30 minutes on Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee, Sudoku, and the mini crossword. If I do the larger crossword it usually starts over lunch.

There was a time I cheated on purpose to see how the Wordle predictors did. At my previous job we had 10 people on 2 teams playing each day and at the end of the week, whoever had the lowest score was paid by the others. Depending on what position, you could break even. The week I did it, I would have made $0.50 (second place on my team) but I told everyone what I did (as an experiment) and paid everyone. So since I paid, because nobody found out I did it, I told, is it really cheating? I will look up to confirm I am spelling a work or person's name on the Crossword, periodically.

The only other game I do is call Framed. It shows you a picture of a movie scene and you have to guess the movie. You get 6 guesses.

https://framed.wtf/

_____
TEAM HD
Each day is what you make of it so make it the best day possible.

Oct 23, 23 15:36

Struggling to handle the bold above.. Your either retired (by definition not working) or temporarily unemployed, which implies your actively looking for work. While I guess you could say your both, it just seems an odd thing to say.

Connections - 5 min, if not solved put it aside come back later, after maybe another 5 depending on progress attitude, people walking by I might engage family to help.

History one is once a week, and only takes a few minutes at most.

But I am fully retired, so I have nothing else I have to do. I spend way more time playing Catan online every day.

Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Oct 23, 23 16:14

I do spelling bee, mini crossword, connections, and letter boxed as a wind-down in the evening after my kid goes to bed.

It takes 15 min or so.

Oct 23, 23 17:01

I'm retired from active duty, but in the hiring process for a new job. So I have the convenience of not having to go to work every day right now, but not starving.

I usually go for a walk in the morning, then eat breakfast and sit down with my coffee to do these puzzles. I knock out the Wordle, Connections, Crossword, and Spelling Bee, then do some Duolingo for 15-30mins. I used to do the Sudokus all the time, but now I just hit those occasionally in the evening. I never look anything up for Wordle or Connections, but I'll check the spelling of something to confirm for the Crossword or Spelling Bee, or if I just get completely stuck on the Crossword.

Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

Oct 24, 23 3:30

I spend about 15-20 minutes, also with my first cup of Joe in the morning. My typical routine.

Wordle
Worlde
Framed
Canuckle
Connections
NY Times mini

As for cheating, I've mentioned before I look up previously used Wordle answers, some may consider it cheating, I do not. Since the mini crossword is timed I don't look anything up, but on larger crosswords I will absolutely look something up if I haven't a clue what it is and it's all that remains.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Oct 24, 23 3:38

Typically do Wordle, the mini and Connections with my coffee after my first round of work that ends around 7:30am. Typically takes me
Wordle: 2 mins
Mini: 1-2 mins
Connections: 5 mins. I consider any incorrect guesses at Connections as a failure. If I’m not getting it I normally guess and/or give up, but won’t spend much more than five mins.

Our kids mostly do the Mini too, and we all share our times in a text message thread as a little daily competition to see who was fastest.
Bragging allowed.

ETA: all three took me nine minutes today. Wordle in 4, mini in 1:17, no mistakes on Connections.

Oct 24, 23 17:03

Spelling Bee is my favourite and I do that everyday - sometimes I get it quickly but I usually poke away at it throughout the day. I’m 20 points away from genius today - very frustrating!
Connections is usually a minute or two.
I can usually get Wordle in 3-4 guesses in a couple of minutes.
I consider the mini a failure if it takes over a minute (except the longer ones - are those Friday’s?).
For non NYT games I just got addicted to Worldle - it gives you the outline of a country and you have six guesses to get it right. If you’re wrong it tells you how far away it is from your incorrect guess. Then in bonus rounds you can guess the neighbours, the capital city, the flag, the population and the currency’.

On the days I commute to work I’ll play the above if I don’t have any work emails to respond to. If I’m really bored I’ll do the Sudokus as well. On WFH days I either do them in the morning or as a mini break between tasks.

Oct 26, 23 12:09

10 minutes total on Wordle & Connections before getting in the shower each morning. No cheating on either.

Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Jun 24, 24 17:36

Jun 25, 24 0:52

Connections (favorite) and Wordle are fun and quick. I'm bummed if Connections is too easy.

letterboxed is more challenging and i'll strip it down and redo (many times) if i can't get it in three

spelling bee is fun and i'll go till the bitter end but -- i routinely plug in words that NYT claims aren't words. Have thought about starting a thread on legit words that spelling bee dings but there are a lot of puzzle threads already

i should love Tiles, but don't. Ditto the big crossword -- this will sound ridiculous but there's a smugness to it that keeps me away

these puzzles are a quick way of cracking mental knuckles with a.m. coffee and i'd miss them if they weren't around. Should try Sudoku.

Jun 25, 24 3:28

My usual order, which includes some non-NYT games.

Wordle, Worldle, Canuckle, Framed, NYT Mini Crossword, Connections, Strands.

All told, maybe 15 minutes. I do play the NYT Crossword in the evenings when I have more time, and I don't care if I completely solve it.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Jun 25, 24 3:39

I run through my game sequence when I wake up - get the brain going. Currently it’s these…

Wordle - must play b/c there’s a streak that’s tracked to keep going.

Connections - usually some grouping is “unusually” interesting

Mini crossword - can cut time by not answering sequentially, but building off other answers and that’s usually brings me under a minute.

Letterboxed - goal is 3 or less. 1 would be nirvana. I just bounce my eyes around the box playing words. Can get a 3 after a couple of runs. Sometimes a 2.

Strands - usually a quick run through.

Worldle and the states version are what I finish with. Then wife is usually awake orI need to get going.

Later, I do the full daily WSJ crossword - pen paper at the table after dinner usually. Something old school about pen and paper and their grid’s a good size print.

Jun 25, 24 4:59

Pretty similar sequence:

Wordle
Connections
Mini crossword
Strands
Letterboxed

We have a group chat with some friends and we post our results there for some friendly daily competition (and banter). I’m the only one who does LetterBoxed though.