This means that you can bulk out your grid before you get down to the more challenging clues. Fill in the ones that you immediately know the answers to and then come back to the ones that need a bit more thinking or reasoning. One of the best strategies to speeding up the entire process is to quickly scan through the clues. Skip over the ones you do not know, for now. This is a great strategy for pulling the crossword together quickly. Then, head off to another corner and do the same. Start in one corner of the grid and systematically work through the answers until you become stumped. Every answer to every clue is connected to the neighboring answers, so when you pick up on one letter, it gives way to other answers around it. Treat every square on the grid-like an interconnected piece of a spider web. Pencil the answer in and see how the rest of the clues fit in with that answer. If the answer seems obvious, but you are not entirely sure, take a guess. This can make filling in some of the squares a lot easier. Keep an eye out for abbreviations in the clues.Īs it turns out, if there is an abbreviation in the clue, there will be an abbreviation in the answer. Hopefully, finding out that one answer will spur you on to solving the other unsolved clues. Wait until you absolutely cannot go any further and then look up one answer. However, do not be too quick to look answers up. Solving a crossword puzzle is all about expanding your knowledge, and if you have to look something up to do that that is completely fine. Many people assume that looking up the answer to a clue is taboo when it comes to crossword puzzles. Look up answers when you can’t go any further. Walk away from the puzzle, refresh your mind, and come back to it later. It can become so overwhelming that I abandon the puzzle. Personally, when I cannot figure out the answers, I start to get frustrated. Often this means that you are in for a play on words. If you see a question mark at the end of a clue, it usually means that you have your work cut out for you. Keep an eye out for question marks, which denote a play on words. When you see a clue ending in “ed”, you can safely assume that the answer ends in “ed” too. The answer will have the very same tense as the clue. The tense of the clue is a clue in itself. The same tense applies to the question and answer. When you get your crossword puzzle in front of you, locate all of these clues and try to figure out those answers first. The easiest answers to guess are from the fill-in-the-blank clues. Do the easiest clues first (these are the fill-in-the-blank clues). If you want a quick and easy puzzle, choose a Monday crossword puzzle. Many people think that the Sunday crossword published in the New York Times is the most difficult, but as it turns out, Saturday crossword puzzles are the most challenging. Some puzzles are harder than others and it all depends on the day of the week. If you do the typical newspaper crossword puzzle from the likes of The Times, you need to choose your puzzle day carefully. Choose your crossword puzzle day strategically. If you find that the answer is wrong, you can erase it and put the correct answer in – no harm done. Give yourself some room to make a mistake or take a stab at an answer by using a pencil. When you do a crossword puzzle in pen, it can feel like a serious commitment. This has helped me to begin thinking answers through carefully and being more strategic in my overall approach. Over time I have learned to slow down and take it easy. For some reason, I placed more focus on finishing the puzzle quickly than I did on actually deriving enjoyment from it. One of the first mistakes I made when I first started doing crossword puzzles was to rush it. These are 18 helpful tips and tricks for solving crossword puzzles: 1. To improve your chances of solving a crossword puzzle, use the 18 helpful tips mentioned below. Similarly, one of the times in my life when I have experienced pure satisfaction and a sense of achievement has been when I have solved an entire crossword puzzle. If you have experienced a similar disappointment, you will know what it feels like. In fact, one of my biggest frustrations in my life was ditching a puzzle just because I could not figure out a few of the answers. There is nothing I enjoy more than successfully solving a crossword puzzle. Because I enjoy crosswords so much and because I too started at the beginning with no clue about what I was doing, I would like to share my top tips for effective crossword puzzle solving with you. By keeping a few tips in mind and being strategic about your approach to crossword puzzle solving, you can zip through a crossword puzzle and derive the most possible enjoyment from it. If you think that you need to be a crossword puzzle pro to effectively solve a crossword puzzle, you are wrong.
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