Pet Peeves: Aka Things That Make You Go "Gah!"

[shapeshifter]

13 hours ago, HissyFit said:

Previous posts have expressed peeves with package deliveries. This is not so much a peeve as a puzzlement. I placed an Amazon order for two of the same item. One order. Quantity, two. Price each, $46. Total, $92. I later received TWO email confirmations that my order had been shipped, identical order number, each totaling $46. When I clicked the tracking links, they indicated that one was sent by the U.S. Postal Service, the other by UPS! Both arrived today, via USPS and UPS, from the same return address. The items are small enough to have fit in one small mailing envelope. Whyyyyyyy???

11 hours ago, HissyFit said:

I even wondered if two bored shipping department employees decided to have a race.

ETA (Editing To Add): It just occurred to me that the most likely scenario is that someone accidentally only sent 1 of the item, and when the error was realized, a second one was sent via the slightly faster carrier.

 

So probably ignore the rest of this post:

Due to delivery people being unable to find the door of my rear facing duplex for 5 years, and now due to the front doors exposed to rain, sleet, snow, racoons, etc., I've signed up for text and email notifications about the status of my Amazon deliveries. 
You can click a simple thumb-up or down:

 

after which you have the option to elaborate, checking off boxes that seem designed to boost the delivery person's standing with the bosses, but who knows. 

Also, you can put in comments, so...

If this was my order, @HissyFit, I would definitely type something jokey like:
"Please let the people who packed and shipped X and Y know that the contest for fastest delivery ended with a tie."
But now I'm also thinking somebody wants to know that USPS and UPS actually did tie for delivery time.

 

 

 

Edited July 29, 2021 by shapeshifter

[MargeGunderson]

Peeve - when a store shows that there are several of an item in stock on their app, and then when you get there, nope, none. Thanks for nothing, Target! 

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

Peeve - when a store shows that there are several of an item in stock on their app, and then when you get there, nope, none. Thanks for nothing, Target! 

Not sure about Target, but this happened twice with me regarding water shoes in my size at Walmart.
After the first time I even asked an employee if there were "any in the back," but I probably should have gone to the Customer Service desk.
Finally I ordered them online to pick up, and, when I got there, I went to the Customer Service area and they had a stock person bring them out. 
Maybe Walmart (or Target?) has a Secret Stash of Stuff.
BTW: Walmart’s water shoes were terrible. Amazon's were better.

Edited July 29, 2021 by shapeshifter

[JTMacc99]

18 hours ago, HissyFit said:

Previous posts have expressed peeves with package deliveries. This is not so much a peeve as a puzzlement. I placed an Amazon order for two of the same item. One order. Quantity, two. Price each, $46. Total, $92. I later received TWO email confirmations that my order had been shipped, identical order number, each totaling $46. When I clicked the tracking links, they indicated that one was sent by the U.S. Postal Service, the other by UPS! Both arrived today, via USPS and UPS, from the same return address. The items are small enough to have fit in one small mailing envelope. Whyyyyyyy???

My guess is that the preferred/default warehouse only had one of your items in stock and therefore the second one had to come from a different location. Does USPS tracking show you the whole route? I'm assuming that UPS would show you all of the steps for origin to delivery.

[Katy M]

Pet peeve: too much packaging.

I ordered some office supplies from a local business.  They deliver. OK, I ordered 1 ream of colored paper, 5 packets of 100 paper clips, 1 box of staples (normal tiny box of staples), and 2 packets of sharpies--5 each.  

They put the paper clips in one plastic bag, the sharpies in a second plastic bag.  the ream of paper in a box (10 x 14 x 6, I would say), ahd the box of staples in a box the same size.  That all literally could have gone into the same box!!!!!  How ridiculously wasteful. And it all came at the same time, if you're wondering if stuff was back ordered or something.

[peacheslatour]

8 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Pet peeve: too much packaging.

I ordered some office supplies from a local business.  They deliver. OK, I ordered 1 ream of colored paper, 5 packets of 100 paper clips, 1 box of staples (normal tiny box of staples), and 2 packets of sharpies--5 each.  

They put the paper clips in one plastic bag, the sharpies in a second plastic bag.  the ream of paper in a box (10 x 14 x 6, I would say), ahd the box of staples in a box the same size.  That all literally could have gone into the same box!!!!!  How ridiculously wasteful. And it all came at the same time, if you're wondering if stuff was back ordered or something.

This may be TMI but I use pads at night. They come in a giant, heavy duty cardboard box, which once you saw it open, has another heavy duty cardboard box in that. For pads. It's not like they're going to break. I don't get it.

[TattleTeeny]

I once got a single mascara in a box that could have fit something big like a blender or toaster oven.

Edited July 29, 2021 by TattleTeeny

[GaT]

11 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

Peeve - when a store shows that there are several of an item in stock on their app, and then when you get there, nope, none. Thanks for nothing, Target! 

 

11 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Not sure about Target, but this happened twice with me regarding water shoes in my size at Walmart.
After the first time I even asked an employee if there were "any in the back," but I probably should have gone to the Customer Service desk.
Finally I ordered them online to pick up, and, when I got there, I went to the Customer Service area and they had a stock person bring them out. 
Maybe Walmart (or Target?) has a Secret Stash of Stuff.
BTW: Walmart’s water shoes were terrible. Amazon's were better.

There's actually a valid reason this happens, the store only knows what they received in stock & what they sold. What they don't know is what was shoplifted out the door. Then they have no idea it's out of stock until someone tells them, so they don't order more. 

Edited July 30, 2021 by GaT

[HissyFit]

10 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

My guess is that the preferred/default warehouse only had one of your items in stock and therefore the second one had to come from a different location. Does USPS tracking show you the whole route? I'm assuming that UPS would show you all of the steps for origin to delivery.

Because the packages have been delivered, the link no longer shows the track. The shipping labels, pre-printed for UPS and USPS, have the same return address, but the padded envelopes, although the same size, are different.

[MargeGunderson]

39 minutes ago, GaT said:

 

There's actually a valid reason this happens, the store only knows what they received in stock & what they sold. What they don't know is what was shoplifted out the door. Then they have no idea it's out of stock until someone tells them,, so they don't order more. 

If someone shoplifted 8 boxes of watermelon popsicles, my hat’s off to them 😉

I did find them at the local Stop n Shop,  but that meant I had to go to the Stop n Shop, which is a million small peeves rolled up into one giant peeve. 

[GaT]

10 minutes ago, MargeGunderson said:

If someone shoplifted 8 boxes of watermelon popsicles, my hat’s off to them 😉

I did find them at the local Stop n Shop,  but that meant I had to go to the Stop n Shop, which is a million small peeves rolled up into one giant peeve. 

I've had it happen with ice cream cones, that's when it was explained to me & I had the same reaction, but apparently people are good at stealing the most bizarre things.

[Katy M]

19 minutes ago, MargeGunderson said:

If someone shoplifted 8 boxes of watermelon popsicles, my hat’s off to them 😉

I did find them at the local Stop n Shop,  but that meant I had to go to the Stop n Shop, which is a million small peeves rolled up into one giant peeve. 

Could have been 8 different people.

[MargeGunderson]

9 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Could have been 8 different people.

Somehow I find that even weirder. 

[Bridget]

18 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

Peeve - when a store shows that there are several of an item in stock on their app, and then when you get there, nope, none. Thanks for nothing, Target! 

 

17 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

After the first time I even asked an employee if there were "any in the back," but I probably should have gone to the Customer Service desk.
Finally I ordered them online to pick up, and, when I got there, I went to the Customer Service area and they had a stock person bring them out. 
Maybe Walmart (or Target?) has a Secret Stash of Stuff.
 

I've had this problem before at Target, so I asked several people in managerial positions at the store why this happens (once I cooled down about being quite livid about being let down!).

It was explained to me as following: the total number of specific items sold in one day is only updated at nighttime during the closing protocols (i.e. counting the register totals).

For example, if the website/app says there are three pink size medium nightgowns available but they're all gone once you arrive, it's because the website/app isn't updated as things are sold during the day. The inventory check "thinks" there are three nightgowns in the store no matter what time you check for availability because that's what the data confirmed at the beginning of the day - and the data won't change or update until it's too late for the customer. The website/app won't list that "as of 2:27pm, there are zero nightgowns available" until the beginning of the next day, which is totally pointless.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Bridget

[Jane Tuesday]

I've found that the best thing to do in those situations is to go ahead and buy online for store pickup in an hour or two. When the clerk goes to pull the item and it's out of stock, they'll generally call to ask if I want a substitute. Even stores that don't do that... if you wait until you get the "ready for pickup" notification, you'll know it's there before you go. 

[TattleTeeny]

I really hope I can articulate this peeve without sounding like a complete moron among a crowd of intelligent folks. Anyway…

Crossword puzzle books! Its not that I want them to be easy, because I don’t (in fact, that is also a peeve). But I really wish I could find some with clues that are more within my realm of knowledge. I don’t mean that I want to automatically know the answer as soon as I read the clue; I mean that so many of the clues and references and answers seem to be from way before my time. Not in a scholarly “world history” way (because that would be fine!), but in a common lifestyle or vernacular kind of way — stuff that I would just never know, no matter how much I ponder or how much I’ve filled in around it. To be honest, when this happens and it’s hindering a chunk of the puzzle, I peek! And I don’t feel bad because, 99% of the time, I still have no idea what the thing is even after cheating and because I’m just trying to relax after work a little bit! No one dies because I peek, obviously, but I don’t want to!

Anyway, maybe I am not making sense! Again, I don’t want easy crosswords, but maybe a book of puzzles with more modern clues. I’m so not opposed to learning something new from a crossword puzzle or getting stuck on a clue for a while, but I would prefer that it be something that makes me think, “damn it, man—I should have known that faster!”

(Also, I sometimes peek for sports ones because unless it’s wildly obvious, it’s not happening!)

Edited July 31, 2021 by TattleTeeny

[SuprSuprElevated]

3 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

I really hope I can articulate this peeve without sounding like a complete moron among a crowd of intelligent folks. Anyway…

Crossword puzzle books! Its not that I want them to be easy, because I don’t (in fact, that is also a peeve). But I really wish I could find some with clues that are more within my realm of knowledge. I don’t mean that I want to automatically know the answer as soon as I read the clue; I mean that so many of the clues and references and answers seem to be from way before my time. Not in a scholarly “world history” way (because that would be fine!), but in a common lifestyle or vernacular kind of way — stuff that I would just never know, no matter how much I ponder or how much I’ve filled in around it. To be honest, when this happens and it’s hindering a chunk of the puzzle, I peek! And I don’t feel bad because, 99% of the time, I still have no idea what the thing is even after cheating and because I’m just trying to relax after work a little bit! No one dies because I peek, obviously, but I don’t want to!

Anyway, maybe I am not making sense! Again, I don’t want easy crosswords, but maybe a book of puzzles with more modern clues. (Also, I sometimes peek for sports ones because unless it’s wildly obvious, it’s not happening!)

I know exactly what you mean.  I find them to be either too easy or too difficult.  Doesn't seem to be a middle-of-the-road version.

[TattleTeeny]

Oh my goodness, thank you for understanding! 

[shapeshifter]

2 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

I really hope I can articulate this peeve without sounding like a complete moron among a crowd of intelligent folks. Anyway…

Crossword puzzle books! Its not that I want them to be easy, because I don’t (in fact, that is also a peeve). But I really wish I could find some with clues that are more within my realm of knowledge. I don’t mean that I want to automatically know the answer as soon as I read the clue; I mean that so many of the clues and references and answers seem to be from way before my time. Not in a scholarly “world history” way (because that would be fine!), but in a common lifestyle or vernacular kind of way — stuff that I would just never know, no matter how much I ponder or how much I’ve filled in around it. To be honest, when this happens and it’s hindering a chunk of the puzzle, I peek! And I don’t feel bad because, 99% of the time, I still have no idea what the thing is even after cheating and because I’m just trying to relax after work a little bit! No one dies because I peek, obviously, but I don’t want to!

Anyway, maybe I am not making sense! Again, I don’t want easy crosswords, but maybe a book of puzzles with more modern clues. (Also, I sometimes peek for sports ones because unless it’s wildly obvious, it’s not happening!)

Have you tried the Monday New York Times crossword puzzles? I subscribed online at the start of the pandemic and just renewed. The Tuesday ones are also often challenging but not too challenging. Doing them online, there an Autocheck option, which I use with the harder puzzles, later in the week. You can try a certain number of them for free (nytimes.com/crosswords/game/daily). My sister and her husband got a book of just the Monday puzzles from Amazon, so that's an option too.

[theredhead77]

7 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

I really hope I can articulate this peeve without sounding like a complete moron among a crowd of intelligent folks. Anyway…

Crossword puzzle books! Its not that I want them to be easy, because I don’t (in fact, that is also a peeve). But I really wish I could find some with clues that are more within my realm of knowledge. I don’t mean that I want to automatically know the answer as soon as I read the clue; I mean that so many of the clues and references and answers seem to be from way before my time. Not in a scholarly “world history” way (because that would be fine!), but in a common lifestyle or vernacular kind of way — stuff that I would just never know, no matter how much I ponder or how much I’ve filled in around it. To be honest, when this happens and it’s hindering a chunk of the puzzle, I peek! And I don’t feel bad because, 99% of the time, I still have no idea what the thing is even after cheating and because I’m just trying to relax after work a little bit! No one dies because I peek, obviously, but I don’t want to!

Anyway, maybe I am not making sense! Again, I don’t want easy crosswords, but maybe a book of puzzles with more modern clues. I’m so not opposed to learning something new from a crossword puzzle or getting stuck on a clue for a while, but I would prefer that it be something that makes me think, “damn it, man—I should have known that faster!”

(Also, I sometimes peek for sports ones because unless it’s wildly obvious, it’s not happening!)

I, too, know what you mean. I bought a crossword book for my mom and I to work on and it's either super easy or crazy hard. I would love a middle of the road book. A fun find in the middle of the struggle with my mom is learning my dad knows all sorts of really random stuff and would be excellent at these books if he just had the attention span. My mom has been working on them and asking my dad here and there to get him engaged.

[peacheslatour]

3 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

Oh my goodness, thank you for understanding! 

I do the NYT one in The Seattle Times every day except Thursday (because there is always some stupid trick in that one) and I know exactly what you mean. I know a little about a lot of things but I have serious gaps when it comes to things like sports, geography and science. There is no way on this earth I'm gonna know who won the 1947 World Series.

Edited July 31, 2021 by peacheslatour

[TattleTeeny]

10 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Have you tried the Monday New York Times crossword puzzles? I subscribed online at the start of the pandemic and just renewed. The Tuesday ones are also often challenging but not too challenging. Doing them online, there an Autocheck option, which I use with the harder puzzles, later in the week. You can try a certain number of them for free (nytimes.com/crosswords/game/daily). My sister and her husband got a book of just the Monday puzzles from Amazon, so that's an option too.

Oh, maybe I will try that! Thank you! I like challenging and all but it seems like so many clues are, like…social colloquialisms or very specific sports terminology from when my grandma was a child, haha! Update this shit, man! 

Edited July 31, 2021 by TattleTeeny

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, TattleTeeny said:

Oh, maybe I will try that! Thank you! I like challenging and all but it seems like so many clues are, like…social colloquialisms or very specific sports terminology from when my grandma was a child, haha! Update this shit, man! 

One feature of the NY Times puzzles is that the clues often are puns, like "can barely give a hoot" for OWLET.

Edited July 31, 2021 by shapeshifter

[TattleTeeny]

UGH, I saw one on Amazon once that I thought would be fun -- like a '90s trivia one. I am glad I clicked the "look inside" option before buying because it had maybe 12 clues per page (seriously, so much negative space!) and they were all ridiculously easy.

[peacheslatour]

35 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

Oh, maybe I will try that! Thank you! I like challenging and all but it seems like so many clues are, like…social colloquialisms or very specific sports terminology from when my grandma was a child, haha! Update this shit, man! 

The NYT one gets progressively more difficult as the week goes on. Mon. and Tues. are relatively easy, then they get more challenging. I don't even bother with Sat. half the time.

[Browncoat]

Y'all seem to be talking about crossword puzzles online,  but I will add a peeve about paper crossword puzzle books -- when the puzzles span two pages and you have to keep flipping back and forth.  Give me a complete puzzle per page, please!

I'm not a fan of online crosswords because of the way I work through the clues.

[TattleTeeny]

Oh, I prefer books!

[peacheslatour]

32 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

Y'all seem to be talking about crossword puzzles online,  but I will add a peeve about paper crossword puzzle books -- when the puzzles span two pages and you have to keep flipping back and forth.  Give me a complete puzzle per page, please!

I'm not a fan of online crosswords because of the way I work through the clues.

I'm talking about the NYT puzzle that comes in my local paper. We want to support print journalism.

[Mondrianyone]

Embarrassing fact: I used to compete in the Games magazine crossword tournaments. Not a lot, because I didn't want to become more of a crossword geek than I already was, but enough to have some street cred. (One of my friends didn't believe me--I had to bring my 7th-place trophy to dinner to prove myself.) I haven't done one on paper in a very long time, so maybe you won't like my online suggestion, but . . .

The Atlantic has a daily puzzle that gets harder as the week progresses, and the references are very contemporary. It's free, too. (I do the NYTimes and WaPo puzzles, but I'm not sure if they're free, since we have subscriptions to both papers.)

If you really want to go crazy, you could learn how to do the British-type cryptic puzzles. A whole different beast. But only if you're a masochist.

[ABay]

Cryptic crosswords are the worst. Maybe you have to be British.

Have you tried any of the Penny Press books carried in supermarkets and pharmacies? They have a variety of games including crosswords but also acrostics, anagrams, logic puzzles, codes, etc. There are several versions (Family, Favorite, Classic etc.) with different levels of difficulty. I subscribe to Games* and to me the Penny Press books are somewhat easier and there are a lot more puzzles in each issue. 

*Years and years ago when it started, then it folded, and I only found out last year that it had been resurrected.

 

[EtheltoTillie]

2 hours ago, Browncoat said:

Y'all seem to be talking about crossword puzzles online,  but I will add a peeve about paper crossword puzzle books -- when the puzzles span two pages and you have to keep flipping back and forth.  Give me a complete puzzle per page, please!

I'm not a fan of online crosswords because of the way I work through the clues.

You can print the on line NYT puzzles to do with pen or pencil. I don’t use the version in the newspaper because I like the one I print from the web site better. I don’t do the Sunday puzzle anymore, as it is just a large slog but not that challenging to me. I don’t do Thursday for the same reason @peacheslatour gives. Friday and Saturday—the themeless puzzles—are most interesting but I cheat by googling  for fact items I don’t know.  I often take a couple of extra days to finish Friday and Saturday, but since I don’t do Sunday, I have more time. 

[peacheslatour]

6 minutes ago, GussieK said:

You can print the on line NYT puzzles to do with pen or pencil. I don’t use the version in the newspaper because I like the one I print from the web site better. I don’t do the Sunday puzzle anymore, as it is just a large slog but not that challenging to me. I don’t do Thursday for the same reason @peacheslatour gives. Friday and Saturday—the themeless puzzles—are most interesting but I cheat by googling  for fact items I don’t know.  I often take a couple of extra days to finish Friday and Saturday, but since I don’t do Sunday, I have more time. 

I don't do the Sunday either. It's like filling out a long, boring form.

[EtheltoTillie]

I don’t really know how to do the cryptic puzzles.  They were explained to me years ago, but it just hurt my head. When you watch a British TV show, everyone seems to be doing the cryptic puzzles, so they must learn how at birth. 
I also recommend the NYT Acrostic puzzle, which is actually improved by doing it on line. You have to fill in letters in two places, and in the old days when doing it with a pen or pencil it would take forever. It’s speedy when the computer program does it for you. If you sign up for the NYT on line puzzle subscription, you will have access to all their puzzles going back to 1999 or so. So this would be a worthwhile investment for a new puzzler. You could start by doing years’ worth of Monday puzzles, etc. and the Acrostic and the highly popular Spelling Bee. 

[Kawaiiko]

1 hour ago, ABay said:

Have you tried any of the Penny Press books carried in supermarkets and pharmacies? They have a variety of games including crosswords but also acrostics, anagrams, logic puzzles, codes, etc.

Those are the ones I use - they actually have surprisingly good takes on word searches.

[TattleTeeny]

I like a basic book and pen! That way, when I am inevitably watching episodes of The Office after work, I am at least doing something with my brain. That said, while I do not miss my commute, I still, after all this time, sometimes feel confused by what to do in that "too early for dinner, too late to do much else" period after I log out.

Edited July 31, 2021 by TattleTeeny

[Mondrianyone]

1 hour ago, GussieK said:

I don’t really know how to do the cryptic puzzles.  They were explained to me years ago, but it just hurt my head. When you watch a British TV show, everyone seems to be doing the cryptic puzzles, so they must learn how at birth. 

I'm not sure it's something you ever learn by having it explained to you. I spent one whole summer apartment-sitting for a friend and going through all the cryptic puzzles in a huge stack of New York magazines she had. I kept doing them till I got it--not that you really get it if you're American. I think the Brits have a genetic propensity for the cryptics. That and the teeth thing. The Guardian (online again) has a big array of different puzzles, most of them cryptic but not all. No subscription needed. You can start with the easier ones, and if you haven't eaten a bullet, you can graduate to the insanely hard ones.

I've been going backward through the Times acrostics. I'm in 2014 now. I love those.

[theredhead77]

Headbands (the whole head ones meant for working out) that are either too lose and slide right out of my hair or too tight and cut off circulation to my brain.

[Stats Queen]

On 7/30/2021 at 11:43 PM, Jane Tuesday said:

I've found that the best thing to do in those situations is to go ahead and buy online for store pickup in an hour or two. When the clerk goes to pull the item and it's out of stock, they'll generally call to ask if I want a substitute. Even stores that don't do that... if you wait until you get the "ready for pickup" notification, you'll know it's there before you go. 

Unless it’s Joanns’s. They have canceled my online order several times. The last time was a deal for buy so many, discount. They charged me full price for what they actually had in stock.

[EtheltoTillie]

On 7/31/2021 at 4:22 PM, Mondrianyone said:

I'm not sure it's something you ever learn by having it explained to you. I spent one whole summer apartment-sitting for a friend and going through all the cryptic puzzles in a huge stack of New York magazines she had. I kept doing them till I got it--not that you really get it if you're American. I think the Brits have a genetic propensity for the cryptics. That and the teeth thing. The Guardian (online again) has a big array of different puzzles, most of them cryptic but not all. No subscription needed. You can start with the easier ones, and if you haven't eaten a bullet, you can graduate to the insanely hard ones.

I've been going backward through the Times acrostics. I'm in 2014 now. I love those.

Same for me on the acrostics!  I started from 1999 and am going forward.  But I'm also doing the new ones as they appear.  I had given up the acrostics years ago because of the tedium of entering the letters.  It was a revelation when they switched to digital.

As for the cryptic puzzles, last night I decided to look at the Guardian and some other sites to revisit explanations of how to do them, and that's another big nope from me.  I get the concept, but it doesn't seem like fun.  I'll stick to the puzzles I am already doing.

I remember when NY Magazine first published cryptics decades ago as "the world's most difficult crossword."  Your method of study makes sense, especially if you could immediately check the answers if you had a stack with the next week's issue and learn from that.

Edited August 1, 2021 by GussieK

[Stats Queen]

On 7/31/2021 at 12:54 PM, Mondrianyone said:

Embarrassing fact: I used to compete in the Games magazine crossword tournaments. Not a lot, because I didn't want to become more of a crossword geek than I already was, but enough to have some street cred. (One of my friends didn't believe me--I had to bring my 7th-place trophy to dinner to prove myself.) I haven't done one on paper in a very long time, so maybe you won't like my online suggestion, but . . .

The Atlantic has a daily puzzle that gets harder as the week progresses, and the references are very contemporary. It's free, too. (I do the NYTimes and WaPo puzzles, but I'm not sure if they're free, since we have subscriptions to both papers.)

If you really want to go crazy, you could learn how to do the British-type cryptic puzzles. A whole different beast. But only if you're a masochist.

I loved Games magazine and I am so impressed with you. (I am a huge geek so I may have hurt rather than helped your street cred).

[Stats Queen]

For the crossword fans, I highly recommend the Simon and Schuster Mega Crossword books.

They have great puzzles at all levels with tearable pages. I loved them, and got the, for my mom years ago. They really are great.

https://smile.amazon.com/Simon-Schuster-Crossword-Puzzle-Puzzles/dp/1982109645/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1FD2P8YZ07HE2&dchild=1&keywords=simon+and+schuster+crossword+puzzle+books&qid=1627863066&s=books&sprefix=simon+and+shuster+cross%2Cstripbooks%2C176&sr=1-4
 

 

[EtheltoTillie]

This puzzle discussion has veered away from pet peeves, so I will bring it back.  I have two petty puzzle peeves:  I can’t stand when I see people filling in the crossword with lower-case letters. Why would they do this? It’s in defiance of all puzzle convention. My other one is when I see people cross off or check off the clues as they fill them in. Why?  First of all, what if you made a mistake?  And also you just don’t need that visual aid to know where you are in the puzzle. 

[Browncoat]

I love the Simon & Schuster crossword puzzle books.  My peeve is that they are no longer spiral bound, and no longer have a rigid cover.  Yes, there were fewer puzzles per book, but it was so easy to change pages and so convenient to have the rigid surface when working the puzzles.

[TattleTeeny]

15 hours ago, GussieK said:

This puzzle discussion has veered away from pet peeves, so I will bring it back.  I have two petty puzzle peeves:  I can’t stand when I see people filling in the crossword with lower-case letters. Why would they do this? It’s in defiance of all puzzle convention. My other one is when I see people cross off or check off the clues as they fill them in. Why?  First of all, what if you made a mistake?  And also you just don’t need that visual aid to know where you are in the puzzle. 

I do LC sometimes; depends on the pen I’m using and how it feels in my hand, or on where in the book the page is. I’m extremely pen-picky; some of them hinder my neatness (generally I prefer an extra-thin Sharpie but crossword book pages don’t really allow for that).

Edited August 2, 2021 by TattleTeeny

[EtheltoTillie]

Well, here's a giant puzzle peeve.  The NYT just this minute announced that as of August 9 they will no longer support the printable format I like--called Across Lite.  This is just going to ruin my puzzling experience.  Why would they feel the need to do this?

[peacheslatour]

36 minutes ago, GussieK said:

Well, here's a giant puzzle peeve.  The NYT just this minute announced that as of August 9 they will no longer support the printable format I like--called Across Lite.  This is just going to ruin my puzzling experience.  Why would they feel the need to do this?

You could see if your local newspaper carries it. That's how I do it. It never hurts to support your local journalists.

[EtheltoTillie]

2 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

You could see if your local newspaper carries it. That's how I do it. It never hurts to support your local journalists.

My local paper IS the New York Times.  But I don't like the format in the paper.   I can still print out a version from the web site, just isn't as nicely formatted as Across Lite.

 

 

Edited August 2, 2021 by GussieK

[peacheslatour]

31 minutes ago, GussieK said:

My local paper IS the New York Times.  But I don't like the format in the paper.   I can still print out a version from the web site, just isn't as nicely formatted as Across Lite.

 

 

I used to get the Weekender. I was surprised that the NYT didn't have the Sunday funnies.

[Nicmar]

On 7/22/2021 at 9:29 AM, emma675 said:

If it's not, it should be. 

I worked in an office one time where a girl nuked leftover steamed broccoli. I had no idea something could smell worse than nuked fish, but it was unreal. I can't even describe the smell, it was so pungent. And the head of our department came stomping out of his office screaming about the smell and totally embarrassed this poor girl (she really had no idea it would smell that bad or that strongly). It took days for the smell to dissipate. 

Someone burned popcorn and it took days to clear out and also someone cooked raw brussels sprouts in the microwave and smell really really bad like dirty diaper bad 🤢

[theredhead77]

Sliced my finger really good, probably need stitches. No urgent cares or Minute Clinics anywhere near me are accepting walk-in patients. What the hell kind of urgent care doesn't accept walk-ins? The kind that are in this shithole state. I fucking hate Georgia and their inexcusable inept healthcare support system so much.