{"id":1476,"date":"2022-10-12T14:55:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T14:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/?p=1476"},"modified":"2022-11-16T15:44:04","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T15:44:04","slug":"10-tips-for-solving-crosswords","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/10-tips-for-solving-crosswords\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Tips for Solving Crosswords"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Talk about classic word games and you can\u2019t avoid talking about the crossword<\/a>. This puzzle was once a dominant form of entertainment for kids and adults alike. But over time, as newspapers and magazines got less popular, and people turned to the internet for entertainment, crosswords began to decline in popularity. Still, crosswords haven\u2019t faded away completely. There are plenty of places you can still get a word challenge through a crossword. If you\u2019re looking to get into crosswords, or just trying to enhance your crossword skills, here are a few tips to keep in mind for your next puzzle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10 Tips for Solving Crosswords<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
  1. Pay attention to the theme<\/a>.<\/em><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Most crossword puzzles have a specific theme. Most obviously, kids\u2019 crosswords usually have a theme, be it holiday-related words or a hunt for various circus animals. But bigger crosswords, targeted toward adults, have themes as well. For instance, most NYT crosswords<\/a> have daily themes. Make sure to pay attention to these! They can offer some major help decoding tricky puzzle clues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Pay attention to the puzzle editor\/creator\/publication.<\/em><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Likewise, if you\u2019re puzzling on an advanced level, it can be helpful to pay attention to who the publisher, creator, and editor of your crossword are. Some puzzle creators like to use similar themes or words from puzzle-to-puzzle. Others may like to use more wordplay when giving their hints. If you follow and get used to one puzzle creator\u2019s crosswords, you\u2019ll likely find you can intuit the correct answers more quickly each time you play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. Start with shorter terms.<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Don\u2019t start with the longest word on the board. Though it may be tempting to knock out as many letters as possible, shorter words tend to be easier to guess and spell. Starting out with short words can thus get you moving on your crossword faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        1. Start with proper nouns.<\/em><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          Alternatively, read through the clues and look for the hints that are describing a proper noun. For instance, some crossword hints describe a famous celebrity or landmark<\/a>. These can be easier to guess because you are less likely to be stuck between multiple options (whereas there may be multiple potential answers for other hints.) Also, once you get this question solved, you can usually be confident in your answer, which can help you move forward in your puzzle successfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          1. Don\u2019t be afraid to pencil<\/a> in guesses.<\/em><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

            Having said that, there\u2019s no shame in entering an answer you\u2019re not sure about. Just don\u2019t use Sharpie. Sometimes, you might think you know the answer to a clue but might not be 100% sure. Try penciling in your suspected answer and seeing how your solving progresses from there. Is the penciled-in word really helping you to move along? Or does it seem to be hurting more than it\u2019s helping? Since you\u2019re working in pencil, you can easily make changes as needed, and this way, you can ensure you won\u2019t forget the potential solution while contemplating other words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            1. Double-check your spelling.<\/em><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

              Especially for longer words, make sure you\u2019ve spelled everything correctly. If you\u2019re just one or two letters off, you might mistakenly think you\u2019ve gotten the answer wrong. That\u2019s a headache you don\u2019t need to deal with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              1. Take your time.<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                Don’t rush. Unlike some other word puzzles or games, crossword puzzles have no timer. Nobody is checking to see how quickly you got your answers: they just want to know if you got them, period. If you find yourself getting frustrated or stuck, then step back, take a breather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                1. Keep an eye out for plurals<\/a>.<\/em><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                  If you\u2019re really in a bind, sometimes filling in just one or two squares can feel like a success. If that\u2019s what you\u2019re looking for, try hunting through your clues to find plural words. For instance, if one of the clues is, \u201cWives of the king,\u201d you can probably assume that whatever word you\u2019re looking for will end in an S. In that case, even if you don\u2019t know the answer to the clue itself, you can try to plug that S into the last square of the puzzle and see if that gets anything moving for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                  1. Don\u2019t be afraid to look things up<\/a>.<\/em><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                    Yes, Googling can feel like cheating. But sometimes, you have to give in and know when to ask for help. By looking up an answer, you\u2019ve taught yourself something new that you\u2019ll now know for future games. And, if you\u2019re still partway through a puzzle, looking up just one answer can give you the info you need to find the other solutions on your own. Just make sure you don\u2019t get used to looking up the answer for every <\/em>word: if you feel the need to get help that frequently, you might want to search for easier puzzles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                    1. Keep in mind: crosswords are hard!<\/em><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                      It can be easy to get upset when you miss a crossword solution or have to look up the answer. But at the end of the day, remember that crossword puzzles are designed to be hard! The puzzle editors don\u2019t want everyone to solve the puzzle in just a few minutes. Take heart in the fact that, if you\u2019re stuck, plenty of other people likely are, too. And over time, as you do more crosswords, they\u2019ll get easier and easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      Other Puzzling Resources<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

                      Were these 10 tips for solving crosswords helpful? Looking for help on other word games? Check out some of our other word game resources, including our Wordle Solver<\/a> and our Scrabble word finder. <\/a>Or check out our list of 20 realistic high-scoring Scrabble words<\/a> to help you out in your next game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                      Talk about classic word games and you can\u2019t avoid talking about the crossword. This puzzle was once a dominant form…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":1477,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crosswords","category-puzzles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1476"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1478,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1476\/revisions\/1478"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}