Alright, let me tell you about my recent smackdown with the NYT Mini crossword.
So, I saw the title, “defeat by a large margin nyt mini”, and thought, “Pfft, the Mini? Piece of cake!” I usually crush those things in like, what, 30 seconds max? This time? Oh boy, was I in for a surprise.
It started out normal enough. I immediately filled in a few easy ones. Like, “ERA” for something baseball-related, you know the drill. Felt good, felt confident. Then… BAM! Hit a wall.
- I stared at “___ing” for what felt like an eternity. What the heck is a four-letter word ending in “ing”? I tried everything I could think of!
- Then there was some clue about a movie I’d never even heard of. Seriously? This is supposed to be the MINI!
I started getting frustrated. I typed and deleted, typed and deleted. My usual rapid-fire solving pace slowed to a crawl. My fingers were practically glued to the screen.
My partner walked in and was all like, “What’s wrong? You look like you’re solving world hunger.” I just grunted and pointed at the screen.
Finally, after way too long – I’m talking like five minutes, which is an ETERNITY for the Mini – I figured out the “___ing” word. It was something totally obvious that I should have gotten right away. Ugh.
The movie clue? I just had to cheat and Google it. I hate doing that, but I was determined to finish this thing.
With the movie clue filled in, the rest fell into place pretty quickly. Finished it! But the time… oh man, the time. Way, way longer than it should have taken. Definitely a defeat by a large margin compared to my usual performance.
What I Learned
The NYT Mini can be sneaky! Don’t get cocky. And maybe I need to watch more movies. Honestly, the biggest takeaway is that even the simplest things can trip you up sometimes. Humbling experience, to say the least.
