A Few (Will) Shortz Notes

A just read an article in the new April issue of Games World of Puzzles magazine about Will Shortz, the current editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle page.  To be honest, I don't even like crossword puzzles all that much.  I much prefer other types, such as cryptic crosswords.  However, I usually try to solve at least one crossword puzzle a week.  I got started when I would pick up the Friday newspaper because of a feature it ran.  I felt a little guilty just getting a paper for one thing, so I would wind up reading most of it and doing the puzzles in it.  When I first started out, it was taking me hours to solve one, and that was with the help of an entire small bookstore of information.  Even with my experience with other puzzle types, it was taking me a while to understand the intricacies use in crosswords.  As time went on, I got faster and had to search for fewer answers.  I got my solving time to just under thirty minutes most weeks, and without having to look up a single clue.  Unfortunately, the paper stopped running the feature, but I kept getting the Friday paper for some time afterwards.  That is until last year, when I started getting the Saturday edition to keep up on a feature on that day.  Even with me previous practice with Friday difficulty puzzles, I am taking about an hour or so to solve a Saturday puzzle; I usually have to look up an answer or two.  I didn't think it would take me so much longer.  Maybe it is the added distractions I face most Saturdays.  (As an aside, it only took me about a half an hour to solve the contest in this issue.   Most of it setting up a letter frequency table, and I was unfamiliar with the answer's theme.)  Back to the article.  What delighted me most was the revelation of some of Shortz's mistakes, especially since one of them was indirectly about my name!  I still have the first crossword puzzle I solved that included my first name as an answer.  I positively giggled when I saw the clue, but I waited to enter it into the grid until I solved a crossing clue or two, just to make sure.  I think the clue was about the mug 'toby' instead of the name.  Why is spellcheck flagging my name as incorrect, just because it is uncapitalized?  If it started with a capital letter, it wouldn't be flagged.  I just checked.  It is not that uncommon a word, or is it?  Never mind.  That should be one word, but the spellcheck says otherwise.  I don't like it.  I better close for this week, before I get frustrated and write something else I would alter regret.