Three Days In
Nov. 2nd, 2022 02:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
onepageatatimeSo… three days in a row now, I have completed the New York Times crossword puzzle. Monday's was a breeze (though consensus in online places I was reading later suggested that it was easier than most Monday puzzles). Tuesday's was a little bit more difficult, but still doable. I tweeted yesterday, that I thought I would do Mondays and Tuesdays regularly, and do Wednesday this week as a bit of a test against my difficulty assumptions.
And… we've got good news and bad news (smile). The good news is that I finished today's puzzle unaided. I think I only had one letter wrong when I finished. I also coped with a "gimmick"/"trick"/whatever in doing that. So… I know I can finish a Wednesday puzzle. But it required every bit of my willpower to keep going, at times, because some parts of the puzzle were difficult for me to get a toehold on. So: current working assumption: Wednesdays are the limit of my solving ability at my current level of experience. It was very satisfying when I finished it!
Which means my new plan for the NYT crossword is: Attempting it Mondays through Wednesdays. And I'll attempt this Thursday's, expecting (like I did when I started today's puzzle) that I won't be able to complete it unaided. But I want to attempt it this week to test my difficulty assumptions and to see how close/far I may be from feeling able to solve Thursdays. And… to get more of that practice at accepting that I'm not perfect (rolls eyes at self).
I also did a smart: given that I went into it expecting to not be able to complete it myself, and knowing that my emotions might react badly to that "failure" (even if other parts of me understand what I'm doing and that completing the puzzle myself wasn't the main goal). So… unlike the last two days, I did not make a pre-dawn attempt at today's puzzle. Instead, I did a puzzle from the book of Monday puzzles… so that, if my emotions declared failure (in spite of my plans and preparations), I would not ruin the whole day. Give myself a success to start the day. I think I will continue that on Wednesdays (and tomorrow)… especially because I kind of expect to do a puzzle from the book on the days that I don't want to attempt the day's NYT puzzle.
I say good news, bad news, because I'm somewhat annoyed at it. I was preparing for "I can't do it yet." Instead, I got "I did it, but it was really difficult for me."And I spsect… if I want to get better, I just have to do it.At least it's only once per week
And… we've got good news and bad news (smile). The good news is that I finished today's puzzle unaided. I think I only had one letter wrong when I finished. I also coped with a "gimmick"/"trick"/whatever in doing that. So… I know I can finish a Wednesday puzzle. But it required every bit of my willpower to keep going, at times, because some parts of the puzzle were difficult for me to get a toehold on. So: current working assumption: Wednesdays are the limit of my solving ability at my current level of experience. It was very satisfying when I finished it!
Which means my new plan for the NYT crossword is: Attempting it Mondays through Wednesdays. And I'll attempt this Thursday's, expecting (like I did when I started today's puzzle) that I won't be able to complete it unaided. But I want to attempt it this week to test my difficulty assumptions and to see how close/far I may be from feeling able to solve Thursdays. And… to get more of that practice at accepting that I'm not perfect (rolls eyes at self).
I also did a smart: given that I went into it expecting to not be able to complete it myself, and knowing that my emotions might react badly to that "failure" (even if other parts of me understand what I'm doing and that completing the puzzle myself wasn't the main goal). So… unlike the last two days, I did not make a pre-dawn attempt at today's puzzle. Instead, I did a puzzle from the book of Monday puzzles… so that, if my emotions declared failure (in spite of my plans and preparations), I would not ruin the whole day. Give myself a success to start the day. I think I will continue that on Wednesdays (and tomorrow)… especially because I kind of expect to do a puzzle from the book on the days that I don't want to attempt the day's NYT puzzle.
I say good news, bad news, because I'm somewhat annoyed at it. I was preparing for "I can't do it yet." Instead, I got "I did it, but it was really difficult for me."And I spsect… if I want to get better, I just have to do it.At least it's only once per week