"The Mystery of McGuffin Manor" - NYT Sunday 5/24/2020

Discuss meta crosswords from sources other than those listed above.
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Hector
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"The Mystery of McGuffin Manor" - NYT Sunday 5/24/2020

#1

Post by Hector »

Apparently this week's NYT Sunday puzzle is a meta-ish one. The prompt is printed in the print edition, so app solvers like myself might appreciate a heads-up. Found this at crosswordfiend:
“Thank you for coming, Inspector,” Lady McGuffin said. “The famed McGuffin Diamond has been stolen from my study! The eight members of the staff had a costume party tonight — it has to be one of them: the butler, driver, cook, baker, page, porter, barber or carpenter.” Can you determine who stole the diamond — and where it is now?”
Within the puzzle, where we often encounter a handful of shaded or circled squares, print solvers are in for quite a surprise: nine large blocks (most of the puzzle, really) are shaded yellow. They amount to the center and the eight compass points. I don’t know what you’ll see in the app. I’m sure you’ll see the same eight clues giving a “Suspect No.” only and four more with narrative sentences including a blank for a missing word. In print, they’re in italics, and I don’t know if you’ll see that, an asterisk, or some other indicator.
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ChrisKochmanski
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#2

Post by ChrisKochmanski »

Lots of fun things going on this construction, though not a hard solve. I bought the paper and did the puzzle in pen, because a pencil barely shows on the NYT magazine paper. My SE corner is VERY messed up. As I was filling it in, things were mysteriously not working until I realized that several of the down clues there were mis-numbered. For a minute I thought it might have to do with the puzzles's theme! But then I looked online, and all was correct there. Wow, I don't remember this happening before in a Sunday NYT puzzle.
Dplass
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#3

Post by Dplass »

There's also a typo in the print edition, with two 92s and no 95 down in the grid
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boharr
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#4

Post by boharr »

From the NYT online:

"This weekend’s crossword puzzle includes misnumbered clues on the grid. Three down clues in the lower right of the puzzle should be numbered 93, 94 and 95, not 92, 93 and 94."
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Al Sisti
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#5

Post by Al Sisti »

any way for non-subscribers to get it ?
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ChrisKochmanski
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#6

Post by ChrisKochmanski »

Al Sisti wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 11:50 am any way for non-subscribers to get it ?
Well, I guess you'll need to buy the paper at your local newsstand. (A grocery store in our area, which had never reliably gotten the NYT before, now, during the pandemic, has a big stack every time I stop in for something.)
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Al Sisti
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#7

Post by Al Sisti »

ChrisKochmanski wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 9:44 pm
Al Sisti wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 11:50 am any way for non-subscribers to get it ?
Well, I guess you'll need to buy the paper at your local newsstand. (A grocery store in our area, which had never reliably gotten the NYT before, now, during the pandemic, has a big stack every time I stop in for something.)
Yep... Our Utica Sunday paper carries the Sunday NYT puzzles, but it's like two or three weeks later.
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Cindy
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#8

Post by Cindy »

You can subscribe to the NYT puzzles only for $39.95 a year.
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Meg
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#9

Post by Meg »

Cindy wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 7:19 am You can subscribe to the NYT puzzles only for $39.95 a year.
That’s what I have done for the last few years. Digital access to all their puzzles.
Check out and support http://CrosswordsForCancer.com.
GlennG
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#10

Post by GlennG »

Al Sisti wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 11:50 am any way for non-subscribers to get it ?
The Seattle Times. It's on syndication time for all puzzles including Sundays. The current one they have posted is 0506, so you'll have to wait 18 days to see this one posted there. But it's free...
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Al Sisti
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#11

Post by Al Sisti »

GlennG wrote: Tue Jun 09, 2020 11:34 pm
Al Sisti wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 11:50 am any way for non-subscribers to get it ?
The Seattle Times. It's on syndication time for all puzzles including Sundays. The current one they have posted is 0506, so you'll have to wait 18 days to see this one posted there. But it's free...
Yeah, it actually was in this Sunday's edition of our local paper...
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Hector
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#12

Post by Hector »

Meg wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 8:06 am
Cindy wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 7:19 am You can subscribe to the NYT puzzles only for $39.95 a year.
That’s what I have done for the last few years. Digital access to all their puzzles.
I had done that for countless years. Also digital access to their jounalism. For reasons I won't go into, I have recently increased and shifted my subscription money, for news and puzzles, to other venues.
Laura M
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#13

Post by Laura M »

GlennG wrote: Tue Jun 09, 2020 11:34 pm
Al Sisti wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 11:50 am any way for non-subscribers to get it ?
The Seattle Times. It's on syndication time for all puzzles including Sundays. The current one they have posted is 0506, so you'll have to wait 18 days to see this one posted there. But it's free...
If any other parsimonious souls were waiting on the syndicated version, it was posted today! Very fun. Thanks for the pointer, GlennG!

Interesting (but probably only to me) note: My husband knows Andrew Chaikin slightly* from his former group The House Jacks; I had no idea he did crosswords! I'll have to look out for more of his puzzles.

*As in, may have met him once :-) He did know a couple of the other guys in the group.
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Beth Tyrpin
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#14

Post by Beth Tyrpin »

Thank you for sharing the free puzzle, Laura. I really enjoyed it. As a surprise bonus I didn’t open the note so I got to figure out the celebrities names on my own which wasn’t too difficult.
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