Dave - Page 5210 Archives

Well if you have never solved crosswords before or have done so very rarely, start with a Monday. In the New York Times Monday is the easiest puzzle of the week and gets progressively harder on Friday or Saturday. If you start on Friday or Saturday you are likely to be smashed and quit in frustration.

Start with the Monday.
Fill in what you know.
Find something that you are positive of and build out from there/

Uncommon Letters
It’s a good idea to use the more unusual letters of the alphabet to help you.
For example a K or an F or a Z will be more useful to you in a crossing answer than an A or an E. As said earlier wherever you are build out from what you know and if you get stuck don’t be afraid to guess.

Take a Break
If you really get stuck. Put the puzzle aside. Come back later. You will be amazed how often that trick works, you will get a new answer on the grid and be ready to run again.

“Fill in the blank”.
These clues are very easy and often the best ones to start with because they are easy to spot in a list of clues and often times they have unique answers. So if the clue was
“One [blank] Customer.” you know the phrase is “One to a customer” so go ahead and fill TOA

Crosswordese
If you have been solving crosswords for a while you will know ‘crosswordese’. Crosswordese are those short vowel heavy answers that show up in crosswords way more often than they do in everyday life. For example lets take Brian Eno. He was one of the founders of Roxy Music. Also an important artist in ambient music. So if you see musician Brian you know is gonna be ‘Eno’. Fill that in and work out from there.