How to Do a Crossword Puzzle

Crossword puzzles provide hours of wordplay enjoyment, and they also increase your vocabulary. With some practice and a few hints, you'll be scribbling down the answers with ease.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Almanacs
• Atlases & Maps
• Crossword Dictionaries
• Pencils
• Erasers
• Pencils
• Pencils

1. Use a pencil so that you can erase mistakes easily.

2. Fill in obvious answers, both across and down.

3. Look at across questions and down questions again to see if anything new pops up - an easy answer you didn't notice before or one that has now become clear because of the letters that are filled in.

4. Look for multiples in clues, such as 'friends.' Put an S in the last position, which may help you figure out adjacent words.

5. Pay attention to clues in the past tense. Try putting ED in the last two positions. (This doesn't always work, however.)

6. Familiarize yourself with frequently used - and often obscure - little words that crossword assemblers need to fill in niches here and there.

7. If you're completely stumped, put the puzzle down for a while and try again later. Or look at the clue another way - for example, maybe 'Getting to first base' refers to romance rather than baseball.

Tips & Warnings

• If the clue contains an abbreviation, then the answer is also an abbreviation.
• A question mark at the end of a clue means the answer is somehow sneaky or a pun. For example, one New York Times puzzle creator, Manny Nosowsky, gave 'Where a person uses an ID to get mail?' as a clue to the answer 'Idaho.'
• The highly esteemed New York Times puzzles are easiest on Monday and get progressively harder throughout the week, with a larger puzzle on Sunday.
• Helpful aids include a crossword dictionary, an atlas and an almanac.

[ybig]

on 1/24/2009 I'd suggest that the death knell of a puzzle is rifling off answers that one thinks are "obvious," without at least checking one cross-clue for plausibility – like if the cross-clue is a plural, you probably need an “s.” I’d suggest that a certain discipline is required NOT to write in ANY answers until you get an overall sense of the puzzle, except possibly for some personal “gimmes,” like if you remember a little high school french or spanish, or know the 1987 Oscar or World Series winners. One wrong answer can throw your whole visual off. Also, force yourself to roam around an interconnected quadrant before jumping around. The splattered disconnected unfinished puzzles I find on the subway seat ALWAYS have something wrong that stumped a whole quadrant. Conversely, if you start to notice that one section of the puzzle seems “harder,” start that area over.

[wandacannon]

on 1/20/2009 how do you do crossword puzzle if they don't make any sense

[jimdris]

on 1/10/2008 I like to work the puzzle for an hour, and then go to Google for the meanings of words, geographical locations, etc.

[Becca]

on 1/9/2008 I never use outside sources. I always feel like I'm cheating! When I'm completely stumped I give it to my husband. He usually gets a few more clues and then I can build on his additions.

on 1/15/2008 Brittany's tip, using a highliter rather than a pen, refers to word search puzzles not crosswords.