TIMES INSIDER – December is a busy month no matter how you slice it. Students are studying for finals, everyone is preparing either for holiday visitors or preparing to travel to their holiday destinations. Let’s not even get into the gift buying and wrapping and stashing away from curious eyes.
But all work and no play will freak out even the most organized person. When it seems as if the month is whizzing by and you’ll never get everything on your list done, it helps to cut yourself a break because they’re your holidays too, right?
We’ve got four special crossword puzzles for you to solve this month that will simultaneously challenge you and make you thank yourself for taking time to put your feet up, sip Melissa Clark’s tasty Cooked Butterscotch Scotch Egg Nog and take pen or pencil in hand. All that other stuff really will wait until you’re rejuvenated.
Elizabeth C. Gorski has been constructing crossword puzzles for The New York Times since 1995 and, since then, she has become one of the most beloved puzzle makers among solvers. Ms. Gorski is particularly well-known for her visual Sunday puzzles, which usually contain an extra bit of solving goodness that requires you to draw a picture in the grid. It’s that extra constructing mile that makes Ms. Gorski’s puzzles so much fun. Our present to you this month is the selection of four top-tier puzzles by the creative Ms. Groski.
Our first puzzle isn’t holiday-themed, but you’ll get a buzz out of it. Originally published in August 2003, you’ll be hard pressed not to want to call us and thank us for this one. If you are a beginning solver, this type of puzzle is called a rebus.
No pressure, but we’re going to start decorating a tree in this puzzle. Published in December 2003 under the title “Branching Out,” make sure you look back after you finish solving and make sure you play connect the dots with the circled letters from A to Z to find a place to stash your gifts.
No Christmas tree would be complete without the item you wind up with after you solve December 2013’s “Good One!” Connecting the circled letters from A to U will give you what you need to top off that tree.
Finally, the old year comes to an end and, if you’re not totally exhausted by this point, you can stay awake to see the New Year be born. You can set Ms. Gorski’s puzzle from December 2000, “Making a Face,” as a reminder. It’s right twice a day.
Hopefully, we’ve lightened the work of closing out your year. Wordplay and the New York Times Crossword team wish you a very happy holiday season, and we look forward to continuing to solve with you in 2015.
Your thoughts?