Sometimes you wake up, and you just realize you’re having one of those grumpier days like you’re having a grumpy morning For no particular reason.

I slept okay.

I could have slept later, but there was an incident Specifically my son missing the bus because apparently he wasn’t getting ready fast enough Today is Lauren’s day to deal with That but she had to come in to get her keys or her glasses or whatever and was annoyed and so that Whole thing woke me up, and they caught up to the bus so it was reasonable But anyway, I woke up cranky, and I’m still cranky And I’m gonna explain some of what I know about my crankiness in just a moment, but first Two things number one a warning that I’m gonna quote my good friend Dan Morin who had a lovely post this morning with some excellent profanity usage And I’m gonna quote it verbatim so be prepared for profanity and two themes on your Daily Lex So as you know if you follow me on social media Or if you listen to this podcast both of which I think are things you do You know I am I Make this daily collections puzzles connection style puzzles New York Times connection style puzzles I make them I’m running typically about 20 to 30 days ahead because I make them when the inspiration strikes I actually haven’t made one in a couple days although.

I’ve been taking notes on ideas I have for a few so I’ll catch up.

I mean I’m way ahead of the game, but still I’ll get even further ahead of the game I post them every day.

It is not a money-making endeavor Some people choose to tip me through the site which is not the point, but I put it on because somebody asked me to But it’s for fun, and you know on Days where the puzzles too hard about 250 people do it and on days where the puzzle is not too hard typically about 500 people do it and Yeah, it’s fun.

I enjoy it and so today’s puzzle was harder I knew when I made it that was gonna be hard, and you know I because I make them so far in advance I don’t always remember what’s coming, and I have to solve them again as they get closer And that’s one of the ways I beta test them sometimes if I’m really not sure about whether a puzzle is too hard or too Easy I’ll ask friends to beta test it, but you know it’s I don’t have an editor.

I’m just doing it So today’s was mostly numbers.

It was all numbers plus Pacific Coast Highway, which was meant as my way in When I saw that this was the one that was coming up that was the one with all the numbers I posted yesterday I’m acid on saying hey you might hate tomorrow’s collections Which indeed some people do this morning when my pal Dan more inside he posted at me What the fuck is this and I love that post I told Dan later I love that post because it expressed his I don’t know annoyances Maybe not there expresses his what the fuck is it my guess with the day’s puzzle where he’s like seriously But he wasn’t mean about it right.

He was like.

What is this and He later solved it by the way, so full credit to Dan I had some people send me their scores Some people tell me they gave up all of which is fair I had a buddy a local buddy who’s on vacation who wrote to me that it was a disgrace That his effort on the puzzle was a disgrace and people who show me like a lot of people scores are very high today Some percentage about 20% of people are solving this one in four or five guesses which is amazing I had somebody replied to my post from yesterday saying hey You know you might hate this puzzle tomorrow And he wrote back this guy Rob on mess it on saying you’re not wrong With a laughing emoji all of which is fine, and then I had then a Friend of the program Peter Cohen wrote to me saying I hate you all which again is fine like it’s it’s I get it I understand that but then I also have some people mostly strangers and some not so much strangers who are like Who use this as an opportunity to tell me?

Why this kind of puzzle is bad or why my puzzles are bad or Typically more like why they don’t like connections puzzles in general Or then I don’t know like just just their general grumpiness and That’s frustrating it’s like hey I’m making these puzzles just for fun And feel free to not be a jerk to me about it if you don’t like that what people like them the point is and To me that is the the challenge and trick of puzzles is they have to be I think sometimes people want them to be easy right sometimes people just want to be able to solve them and I get that But you also want it to be challenging enough that it’s you know worth playing if it’s if it’s just a giveaway And you just know it then like what’s the even the point of the puzzle so finding that sweet spot between not too hard Not too easy is to me the whole thing but I had some people just write to me saying no or When you know there was a trick in there.

I’ll spoil it if you haven’t done today’s puzzle Sorry like hey when there’s four prime numbers, and that’s not the thing that I’m out like People telling me why they’re out or why they didn’t like it is a lot, and I guess it’s invited but it didn’t help my General crankiness on the day that some people were choosing to write to me in various social places to tell me why they didn’t like Today’s puzzle now.

I appreciate the feedback I want to know when people don’t like it so I can customize it, and I guess this one was too hard I think I’ve done number heavy puzzles before that weren’t too hard this one was I guess too hard But it’s I guess it’s the tone.

It’s the way people come at you.

I don’t know be nice.

Thank you so much anyway Have a great Monday.

I’m not but still you should Lex You