![]() Again, this makes things a bit more interesting than using explicit tags, like "Fr." or "L.". If a clue uses a foreign word, person, or place, the answer is often from the same language or place.This is a more crafty way of signifying an abbreviation than the explicit "abbr." tag, which is also used sometimes. If a clue contains an abbreviation, the answer is usually also an abbreviation.A good way to check for clue/answer agreement is described in a brief article, The Substitution Test, that I put together for the Word-Buff Stuff Newsletter. A clue and its answer must always agree in every grammatical sense (i.e. ![]() Many other crossword publishers follow very similar conventions. These conventions are crucial aids to solving crosswords, so you should familiarize yourself with them right away.īelow are some examples of the less obvious cluing practices used in the New York Times crossword puzzle. Professional crossword editors adopt cluing conventions that they adhere to religiously. How to Solve Crossword Puzzles #2 Become Familiar with Cluing Conventions Rather than than wait for Saturday's challenge, crossword solving whiz Dan Feyer recommends increasing the difficulty of an early-in-the-week puzzle by solving only the Across clues or Down clues, or by only solving clues for which no letters have yet been filled in. That way you'll learn something new with each puzzle, without shattering your confidence. It's best to start with crossword puzzles that you can almost solve completely, but not quite. You need to start with a level of difficulty that matches your current ability, and work your way upwards. In New York Times puzzles, for example, Monday puzzles are the easiest and Saturday's are the hardest. Some, like Brendan Emmet Quigley, give an explicit difficulty tag (in his case: Easy, Medium, or Hard), while others, most notably the New York Times crossword, use the day-of-the-week to measure difficulty. Which ones are they? Ask the experts! A very comprehensive list of crossword puzzles with that kind of pedigree was very generously compiled for Word-Buff by the crossword solving champion, Dan Feyer.įortunately, many crossword publications provide some indicator of the level of difficulty of their puzzles. By that, I mean crossword puzzles that are made by a respected constructor (or at least edited by a highly-regarded editor) and published in a quality publication or website. There are many other signs of a good crossword puzzle of course, but an easier way to decide is to simply stick with crosswords having a reliable pedigree. the words that pass through the obscure word) are not equally obscure. One tell-tale sign of a good crossword puzzle is that it uses minimal crosswordese, and that when it does resort to a really obscure word, the crossing entries (i.e. Such entries are often referred to as crosswordese, and looked upon by most as a necessary evil. This isn't the right place to get into the ins and outs of crossword construction, but let me give you an example of a useful sign-post.Ĭrosswords often make use of very obscure words or facts that hardly anybody is likely to know. How to recognize well-made crossword puzzlesĬrossword making is an art form, and very few people are really good at it. The first step to improving your crossword solving skills is to choose the right crossword puzzles to practice on! That means choosing puzzles that are well made and of the right difficulty level for you. How to Solve Crossword Puzzles #1 Select the Right Crossword Puzzles Throughout the article I use the popular convention. Tip 5 - Use Crossword Solving Resources.Tip 2 - Become Familiar with Cluing Conventions.Tip 1 - Select the Right Crossword Puzzles.Check out Volume 1 of Word Buff's 'Totally Unfair' Word Game Guides!Īs always seems to happen with me, things started to get a bit longer than I initially planned, so here is a quick list of links to the tips that might save your scrolling finger a bit of pain.
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