This mind tickler was first created in December 1913 by a gentleman in Liverpool, England and recently celebrated its centenary. The original style was in the shape of a diamond. Its Latin motto was "ignorantia non est argumentum" translated as "ignorance is not an argument". Wow! I eagerly attack the NY Times puzzle on a daily basis - Monday relatively easy - Friday/Saturday difficult - but not from ignorance. The record for solving the Monday puzzle is 82 seconds. I use a pen - not from hubris - but it is hard to find good erasers these days. The former NYT puzzle editor was a fellow named Maleska - you could usually depend that his would be one word answers but his successor injected multi-word answers which makes it trickier. Over the years I caught Maleska in one error when cluing a famous football player of the day - nicknamed "Crazylegs" Hirsch. I knew him as Elroy but the editor called him Leroy which fit his grid but frustrated me. The Sunday puzzle 21 x 21 squares usually requires a committee to solve but I always plunge in anyway. As the man said "ignorance is not an argument." Have fun!
tjs
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