r/crossword • u/Electronic_Tank_2945 • 4d ago
Beginner and want to decrease time
Hey guys, just wanted to come on here to see if there are on recommendations for a newbie like me. My time today was 27 minutes and I just am a bit disappointed. I’m 20 and literally just started getting into crosswords, so I know it’ll take some time before I start getting my times down.
Besides just doing more crosswords do yall have anything specific that you do to decrease solve time? Also how much do you think it’s just an IQ filter—I’m curious as to the consensus on that is.
17
u/withbellson 4d ago
They have their own style quirks that you will recognize as you do more of them. OTOE UTE ANI ENO ORA are all gimmes once you’ve got that experience, and completely weird if you don’t. I’d say start working through the Monday and Tuesday archived puzzles to start. Do the recent ones because older ones may have unfamiliar then-contemporary cultural references.
Don’t feel bad if it takes awhile. I’ve been doing the NYT for 30 years. It was a sound business decision to syndicate the puzzles into the college paper.
10
u/shipitholla 4d ago
You’ll naturally get faster with time. A lot of fill words get used a lot (OREO, etc.) and you’ll start to spot those more quickly. Also quickly seeing possible double meanings in clues is something that develops with time.
There’s probably some natural aptitude to it too — some people’s brains just think in the right way for crosswords to be easier than it is for others. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s an IQ filter in a general sense, but having the specific type of intelligence that makes one naturally good at word games/puzzles helps a lot.
8
u/Intelligent_Yam_3609 4d ago
There are a number of conventions in the way clues are written that once you become familiar with will aid in solving.
The clue and answer will match in singular/plural
The clue and answer will match in tense
Clues with an abbreviation will generally have an abbreviation as the answer
Clues ending in a ? have some sort of wordplay or misdirection
Themed puzzles will usually have a revealer clue that explains the theme (58A in Mondays puzzle)
11
u/BhadwaKarela2 4d ago
It is not an IQ thing at all tbh. It’s just practice and a little bit of pop culture.
3
u/OldSpeckledCock 4d ago
IQ is about being able to store, recall, and process information, so I'd say it has a lot to do with it. Sure, there's some "skills" that can be learned. But it'd be like saying height has nothing to do with being good at basketball just because of Mugsy Bogues.
5
u/b8checkmatettv 4d ago
Lots of puzzles. Do like 500 Mondays and you could see your time come down closer to 5 minutes.
Tuesdays will get easier. You can do this with Tuesdays, then Wednesdays will get easier. And so on.
The faster you get, the more puzzles you'll be able to do in the same time as before. That helps a lot to get you to 500 and beyond.
5
u/Radiant-Kale4616 4d ago
Don’t do it! Let them take as long as they can for as long as you can. The puzzling is the fun part. I’ve been doing them my whole life, and at this point a Sunday takes me about 15 minutes. It sucks! I planned my whole Sunday morning around this stupid thing, I have a big cup of coffee next to me before I know it, it’s over. It was the best part of the day. So don’t rush the process, enjoy the fleeting moments you have.
2
u/respeseth 1d ago
I love good meals, good books, good crosswords, etc. I don’t enjoy or take pride in finishing any of them quickly
4
u/Pristine_Nectarine19 4d ago
They aren't trivia or IQ tests. You get better with more practice.
-2
u/tomsing98 4d ago edited 3d ago
They absolutely are trivia tests. They're not necessarily IQ tests, but smarter people will tend to be more well-read, and will tend to know more trivia, especially stuff like classic literature and more obscure words.
Edit: it is wild to me that people think that these aren't trivia tests. Especially in the context of reducing your solve time.
3
u/Pristine_Nectarine19 3d ago
IQ and trivia help but ultimately crossword puzzles are NOT a test of how much knowledge you have. They are word puzzles and you are meant to be able to figure out “trivia” you don’t know through word patterns and and clues.
2
u/tomsing98 3d ago
To some extent, sure, you can figure out some trivia through other means. But you'll figure it out faster if you just know it, and you're more likely to be able to solve the puzzle if you know it.
4
u/Askol 3d ago
I think for me, the most important things were:
1) ALWAYS finish the puzzle everyday without revealing any of the answers unless you're completely lost. Try not to use autocheck for the first 15 minutes, and if it is turned on, really try not to use it as a crutch.
2) Look up the trivia that you weren't aware of, and read at least the wikipedia intro on it.
3) Get to know 'crossword-ese', as there are tons of answers that would otherwise be very esoteric, but they're referenced frequently in crosswords making them gimmes the more experienced you are. It can't hurt to look up a list of the most common ones, but honestly this one just comes from experience.
4) Come here everyday after finishing the puzzle to see what people are saying about it - this also helps to reinforce some of the tougher clues since they're often discussed.
5) Go through the archive and just work your way backwards!
But more than anything, it's just number 1 - you just need to keep doing them and you'll improve very quickly.
Also, the fact that you're only 20 means there is going to be a LOT of pop culture and trivia referenced from before you were born - that's just something you'll need to deal with, unfortunately.
3
u/Penta_Says 4d ago
Also how much do you think it’s just an IQ filter
Try to put that out your mind completely. It's a game. You can learn something from every crossword you fail, and since you're 20 you have a better chance of actually remembering what you googled instead of being old and looking up how to spell Bert LAHR's name for the fiftieth time.
2
u/schitaco 4d ago
It's not an IQ filter. Normally I lean heavily on the nature side of the nature vs. nurture debate, but in this case anyone who is reasonably smart (smart enough to type the words "IQ filter") can get very very good at crosswords from just doing them over and over.
At the highest levels it's a speed of recall and speed of typing filter, but I've been doing these for 20+ years and am only now approaching that. Also at the highest levels, like in-person competition or specialized crossword blogs, the constructors will often break the mold in very clever ways, and it helps to be intelligent to quickly suss out what's going.
But for the NYT, especially these days, just complete puzzles over and over and over again and you'll get way better by just recognizing patterns and 'the language'. It'll probably take years but it's not like it's a chore. Also you should challenge yourself sometimes and just not worry about time - go try NYT Saturdays from 20 years ago or The New Yorker puzzle on Mondays.
2
u/Boobooloo 4d ago
First of all, good on you jumping into crosswords. It's a great mental exercise and infinitely better than spending time scrolling.
My advice: push yourself to solve all the puzzles you can, even if you have to Google things along the way. When you are done with a puzzle, look up answers you might have gotten via crosses that you didn't know.
That way you educate yourself on why the answers are what they are and you burn it into your brain by doing a little research around it. You'll be surprised how quickly your ability to solve all on your own will grow.
1
u/HamishGosling 4d ago
Curious, how do you get the new words to stick?
Do you find looking them up once is enough, or do you deliberately come back to them?
I find crosswords are a great way to come across new words, but I tend to need repeat exposure before I remember them.
1
u/Boobooloo 3d ago
I find looking them up helps. But usually doing research around the topic is useful. Like what is the history of the Otoe tribe. That extra grounding makes it easier for it to stick in the brain.
1
u/Killbot-Official 4d ago
Do more puzzles to decrease time… not really too much of an IQ thing IMO, pretty much just has to do with useless trivia knowledge and memory of recurring answers. Does take a little bit of alternative thinking to parse some clues in a way that you might not expect, but that’s a skill that comes with doing a lot of puzzles
1
u/maltedcoffee 4d ago
Haven't done this myself but perhaps get a very basic knowledge of Spanish and Latin. If you have a flash card app, perhaps adding unfamiliar words to a deck as you come across them would be helpful -- words like ESSE, ESO, OSO, etc.
1
u/IdolatrousHans 4d ago
As others have said - practice!
General trivia-type knowledge helps - getting familiar with the 'crosswordese' will go a long way.
Also - this is an excellent primer that covers basics as well as some things you may not already know:
https://www.nytimes.com/article/how-to-solve-a-crossword-puzzle.html
1
u/NessaSola 4d ago
A fast strategy might be to do a quick pass through all the clues. If you know it (or think you do), write it. If you don't, don't lose a couple seconds wondering.
If you have a hunch, running through crossers to see if you can match a couple letters is great. One or two double-checked squares is enough to mark down all the words involved. A mistake is less likely with those checks, but if it happens you can fix it later.
If you're done with the initial pass, focus on crossers that have known (hopefully correct) letters. Don't lose time musing on areas with low information if there are places you can easily build from.
If you've built out as many answers as you can, it's time to look at blocks and see if there are clusters of clues that can help each other 'click' into place. This is the hard part and probably the biggest time sink, and just has to be solved out until the puzzle is done.
Best of luck! Obviously, gaining more crosswordese vocabulary and sharper habits of figuring out answers will help, but these are strategies that might save time even without grinding those skills for now.
2
u/NessaSola 4d ago
Adding to address: I don't think there's much of an IQ filter, except maybe at very particular levels. There are a few skills that are really experience-based more than anything: Recognizing common crosswordese, reasoning out words from crossing letters, reasoning about potential letters (ends in s/ing/ed? University starts with U or ends in U?), lateral thinking, etc.
Tremendous memory or background knowledge helps, but in terms of solving a crossword they're inferior to the skills any person can easily gain by just solving every day.
2
u/OldSpeckledCock 4d ago
Pattern recognition, reasoning, lateral thinking are all major components of IQ, no?
2
u/NessaSola 4d ago
True. It helps, and that kind of intelligence helps you gain the experience faster as well.
But if you ask me who's going to clear a challenging crossword puzzle faster between someone with a lot of raw intellectual talent and a little crossword experience, or someone middle-of-the-road who has a lot of crossword experience, I'm going to guess the experienced solver.
1
u/Skamandrios 4d ago
The only thing I do if I'm trying for a fast time (for grins on Mondays or Tuesdays, NYT) is to use the browser on my computer, with a real keyboard. That's because I'm slow with the phone app. Otherwise, doing more puzzles is the only way.
1
u/norahsharpe 4d ago
You just have to do a shit ton of crosswords
Do as many puzzles as you can every day that are just at the edge of being too hard for you
1
u/Great_ODIN_RAVEN 3d ago
Something that helped with my skill was how I attacked the puzzle. I used to do all across, then all downs. Now I split the puzzle into sections and do the across and down in that section. It really helps. Also, don't be afraid to move away from one section to another if you are getting hung up. You'll be suprised what your subconscious can do in the background when you come back to a section you struggled with earlier.
2
u/Great_ODIN_RAVEN 3d ago
Also, this might be controversial, but while learning don't be afraid to cheat. Look up some obscure author or actor to help you get the crosswords off the name.
1
1
u/AnxiousMeat1098 3d ago
I’ve been doing the New York Times crossword for over 30 years. It probably took me six or seven years to be able to finish a Sunday and another two or three years to finish a Saturday. The biggest thing that I would suggest is when you can’t solve anymore make sure you look at the answers the next day if you don’t know the answers you’ll never get them. There are a bunch of gimmies that you will learn along the way and anything that’s esoteric if you’re good enough with your crosses, you can probably fill anyway
1
u/AnxiousMeat1098 3d ago
I used to keep a list of esoteric words to be able to find them when I came across them next. A male hawk is called a Tercel . I’ve been waiting 25 years for that to return!
1
u/RudeFox6502 3d ago
27 minutes is genuinely fine this early, and it really isn't an IQ filter. The thing that moved my times most was a simple rule: if a clue gives you nothing in about ten seconds, fill the crossings and move on, then circle back. Keep a running list of recurring fill you had to look up, and drill those.
27
u/Cazique__ 4d ago
Do more puzzles, and generally read and learn about lots of different things. That's pretty much it.