I'm also a fan of the New York Times puzzle, until my local paper sabotaged me. They no longer run the Sunday puzzle at all, and damned if I'm going to buy the whole paper just to get it.
I used to do the puzzles at the dining room table while our kids did their homework there. In time, they no longer needed me to keep them on task, and we often did them together, each kid bringing something different to the table, literally.
You all know the NYT puzzles get harder through the week, right? Monday's is pretty easy, Tuesday's a little harder, and so on. I consider the Sunday one the equivalent of Wednesday's, only much bigger.
I allow myself to look things up on Saturday's, but only in print, not online, so it's still a challenge--one I rarely meet.
My very favorite are the ones with a gimmick of some kind--some letters are circled and form a big hint to many of the clues (such as ALL CHEVROLET CARS), or the digit "1" is to be written into a single box and counts as the letters ONE [so you fill in things like the novel AT1NEMENT], like that.) I'll nearly always try to find time to do the puzzle if I see circles or a weird pattern suggesting something special.
Maryn, word freak