Dean, who interviewed puzzlers last year for "The Next Big Thing" and competed at Stamford this year, writes on http://deanolsher.com:
"Racing against the clock truly ruins the experience...
Today I decided to do the puzzle just for fun. And that's exactly what it was. Time slipped away. I entered my happy place. I developed a deep appreciation for the constructor, Nancy Salomon. The elegance of her mind set off fireworks in mine. The grid somehow seemed to engulf me, and I became attentive to the full pleasure of the experience in all its anatomy.
...the lyric that has earwormed its way into my head today is this: 'I like a man with a slow hand.'" [It's actually, "I want..."]
You don't often hear puzzle-solving described with, uh, quite that type of imagery. Mmmmmm. Yeah.
Oh, right...puzzles. I like to savor a clue as much as the next person, and the "aha moments" are indeed peak experiences. The weird thing is, I never feel like I'm speed-solving (and lately, I haven't been finals-level speedy). I just solve the puzzle. It just happens to come out faster than most people.
