Two weeks ago, The New York Times pissed off its many acrostic puzzle fans—including myself—by omitting the biweekly acrostic from the printed Times Sunday Magazine. This shortsighted budget-cutting move was inspired by a reduction in the magazine's page size, which led to a decision to print the paper's weekly "variety" puzzle (which includes the acrostic) only when there was enough advertising in the magazine to make room for it.
Well, this weekend—traditionally one of the slowest advertising weekends of the year—somehow the Times found enough space to put the acrostic back into the magazine. Hurrah! I'm sure the many complaints the paper received from angry puzzle fans were merely a coincidence. Let's hope the acrostic is back to stay (and you can resume printing the other variety puzzles anytime, too, NYTers).
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