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Lesson 4 What to Do When You're Stuck |
Conquer the NYT Crosswords (9) |
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- Take the word(s) in a clue and try to use it in a sentence or two, and see if that leads you to a suitable answer. For example, [Clouds (up)] could be included in "The sky clouds up" (darkens) or "The window clouds up" (fogs). See if one of the alternatives that come to mind might have the needed number of letters.
- Ask a friend for a hint or an answer. Let's say sports isn't your strong point—ask a sports fan, "Who's a 3-letter Boston Bruins great?" and she may offer up ORR.
- Pull out a dictionary, atlas or other reference book, or use a search engine. The dictionary compilation site onelook.com allows you to enter an incomplete letter pattern to generate a list of possibilities. For example, keying in BL??D? yields a list of words including Blanda, bleeds, blends, blinds, blonde, blonds, bloods and bloody. See if one of those matches up with your clue.
- Visit the New York Times Today's Puzzle forum (http://forums.nytimes.com/top/opinion/readersopinions/forums/crosswordsgames/todayspuzzle/index.html) or a crossword blog such as Diary of a Crossword Fiend (http://crosswordfiend.blogspot.com) to find hints or ask specific questions about the puzzle.
- Another time-tested approach is to put the puzzle aside and come back to it a little while later, or the next day. Many solvers find an intractable puzzle becomes much more manageable with a fresh perspective.
- The last recourse is to check the answer grid the next day (or in the back of the crossword book). Reread the clues and make sure you understand the connection between the clue and answer.