Wednesday: 12:05
Thursday: 13:04
Friday: 13:17

Gotta give it up for 40-Across "Cheap cab, perhaps." I saw "House Red," but couldn't square it with the clue. Is there some word "housered" that I don't know? Ah, cabernet. I'm more a white wine guy.

So I found something more fun than Zelda Randomizer: Final Fantasy 3(6) Randomizer! You star with 2 random characters and the airship with access to the World of Ruin, as well as 3 Moogle Charms modified to equip to anyone. All enemies and bosses (except final Kefka) are randomized, as is every item in every chest. Also random are the spells that epsers teach (and at what rate). Innate skills, such as Steal, are assigned randomly, as is the gear each character can use. In one seed, I got Terra with General Leo's Shock Ability! Enemies give jacked up Exp and AP. Basically each battle nets a minimum of 3-5 AP regardless of difficulty, but a Legendary Dragon gives you 50!

You really can find almost ANYTHING in a chest, and obtain items they only expect you get rarely or not at all, like Economizer or the Ilumina (Lightbringer) Sword (normally only obtained by betting the unique Ragnorak Sword at the Colisseum, which you almost never do because you generally take the Ragnorak esper instead of the sword). The combo of Fixed Dice and Offering are well known, but if you get TWO Fixed Dice? The current seed I'm on has this nonsense, but I never found an esper that teaches Ultima, Flare, or Life 2. I also never got a Ribbon so I can't easily uncurse my shield (though the Cursed Shield is faster to uncurse in this hack, the Paladin Shield doesn't necessarily teach Ultima). I expect I can still win, but I do feel a little naked without Ultima.

Monday: 6:46

Wednesday: 13:04

Thursday: ??? Forgot to save it. A print version would have worked faster, since there was some grid weirdness which didn't translate to digital very well.

Friday: 17:13 
Saturday: 10:03 (new record, crusht)

Wow, was this an easy one. Totally wrecked my previous Saturday record (and is still a couple of minutes faster than my Friday best). This is especially nice, because I hated that my prior Saturday record was on a non-standard 15x16 grid (technically, that should take longer with more squares, but it beat my previous 15x15 time, (not mention that my Friday best was in between those two Saturday  times, so there were asterisks in a record list. Now everything is clean.)). I had a small error with OVERSTATES instead of OVERSHARES (Clue: Says too much), but that happens when you're moving so fast. I was fortunate to know all three proper names in the grid (21-, 41-, 42-Across) but none of them are obscure at all. My large coffee might have helped, but like I said, very very easy.

 Saturday: 47:14 (3 Google)

Brutal. Some things seemed obvious at the end but seemed completely obscure during the solve. I don't know if I was unfocused or just unlucky with the stuff I knew and the stuff I didn't. Even with some cheating, which I haven't needed in a while, it took forever. I'm not expecting <20 minute times all the time, but I do try and keep it under 35.

Context

 

Sunday: 27:29

I could have gone a minute or two faster, but for some reason, AcrossLite (the app I use to solve) isn't saving my preferences, so I have to redo them at the start of a puzzle. Another program that's giving me trouble since I migrated machines is my SNES emulator. I got my old one to use 8-directional input, which makes Zelda much more manageable, since movement in just 4 directions is stunted as heck, but I can't seem to find that toggle in the one I'm using now, although I could swear it's the same program.

I can solve a lot of this, probably, if I just take the half hour or so to power up my old behemoth and flash drive over some stuff. In fact, I bought a big flash drive solely for this kind of thing. I want to transfer some media and documents too. But my flash drive sits unused.

So much context, I can't bear it. I took today off (did I mention I have a new job? Census 2020 enumerator) and I'm still lying in bed, watching old Star Trek, despite the fact that there are at least 2 movies out on Netflix and HBO that I want to see (but apparently not enough to actually do so).

Did I mention my father died in March? March!

Have I talked about my roommate?

Biden securing the nomination and picking a running mate? (And I have quite a bit to say about all that.)

I haven't once mentioned the global pandemic that has basically upended every aspect of life all over the world and has been going on for six months.

What is personal blog worth if you don't talk about the world and your place in it? All my writing is chats online, or Facebook comments.

Part of it is the apocalyptic mindset that goes on during the pandemic, and certainly a helping of depression that goes along with it (and all the other shit I mentioned). I just can't tell if I'm clinically depressed or just lazy and unmotivated as fuck to do anything. Well, the job pays, at least. I don't love the work, but it isn't too boring either.

Sigh... well, time for a bowl.

I need a hug.

Friday 12:14

A new Friday record! At least as far as this blog is concerned. Very nice long down clues.

Friday: 13:23



Oh, look, context. In older posts, it can be hard to decipher what I'm talking about without a visual aid. I cribbed this image from Rex Parker, but hopefully it won't disappear like some other images I've pasted before. Those six intersecting 11-letter answers is nifty, and I was pretty quick about it. Put a frozen pizza in the oven for 22 minutes, and raced it with the puzzle. Not always a sure thing on a Friday, but I got there with plenty of time to spare.

Friday 12:22 (crusht)

Easy puzzle for a Friday, and no Valentine-related clues. I believe 12:22 is a Friday personal best (yet oddly, slower than my Saturday best). I really ought to keep track of this in some sort of spreadsheet, but I never get so obsessive to do that. It would have gone even faster if I knew 1-Across, which was likely a gimme for many (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band led by Iggy Pop THE STOOGES). Ten letters right off the bat, and the Downs are pretty easy. Instead, I finished up filling out that area last (I got The Stooges once I found both O's). "Much-admired" person turned out to be ICON instead of the usual IDOL, so that cost me some time to unravel (tricky, since two of the letters are right, and those are with somewhat easier crosses).

Here's what I believe are my best times, since I took note of dominating. Middle days are more whatever. Tuesday and Wednesday feel mostly the same, and time is more about clues than solving a gimmick.

Monday 4:44
Thursday 8:59
Friday 12:22
Saturday 12:03 (on a 15 x 16 grid, 12:30 otherwise)