How to Solve the New York Times Crossword (2024)

How to Solve the New York Times Crossword

  • How to Get Started
  • A Step Further: How to Read Crossword Clues
  • Cracking the Harder Clues
  • Bonus: Crossword Themes

https://www.nytimes.com/article/how-to-solve-a-crossword-puzzle.html

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How to Solve the New York Times Crossword (1)

Originally published on Nov. 20, 2017

By Deb Amlen

Illustrations by Elena Xausa. Animations by Lorenzo Fonda.

Would you like to improve your mental flexibility, learn a few interesting things every day and establish bragging rights among your friends? Solving crossword puzzles is like mental yoga — both challenging and relaxing at the same time. Plus, it’s fun, especially if you appreciate words and wordplay as much as I do. I believe that with patience and practice anyone can learn to solve crosswords. Once you master a few basic strategies, you’ll find that puzzle-solving is not only possible, but highly addictive. So let’s get solving!

How to Get Started

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How to Solve the New York Times Crossword (2)

“Solving crosswords eliminates worries. They make you a calmer and more focused person.” — Will Shortz, New York Times crossword editor and NPR puzzle master.

If you’ve ever picked up a crossword puzzle and said to yourself, “I am not smart enough” or “I don’t have a big enough vocabulary for this,” please allow us to let you in on a little secret:

A crossword puzzle is not a test of intelligence, and solving is not really about the size of your vocabulary. Becoming a good solver is about understanding what the clues are asking you to do.

You can absolutely learn to do that. We’re here to let you in on some of the rules that most clues follow, and to teach you how to read those clues so that they become easier to solve. It would be impossible to cover every instance of cluing, but we can get you up and running.

We’ve even included some tips and encouragement from the puzzle pros to help keep you motivated, like our very funny friend, Megan Amram, a writer for television shows like “The Simpsons” and “The Good Place.” Ms. Amram is a devoted solver and has also made a puzzle that ran in The New York Times.

“I understand how intimidating starting the crossword can be, but the bottom line is, believe in yourself. YOU ARE SMART ENOUGH TO DO THE PUZZLE. Look at me. I do the New York Times crossword puzzle every day, and I once tried to shoot a basket on the wrong hoop when I was on my 6th grade basketball team. Crossword puzzles are not about intelligence, they are about keeping your mind nimble and knowing what the sneaky trickster Will Shortz is asking of you. Show Will Shortz who’s boss by attempting the puzzle!” — Megan Amram

Got it? Now let’s get started.

First, decide how you want to solve: Are you a print-only person? Do you enjoy the extra help that comes from playing on the web or on-the-go with the app? If you subscribe, you get access to all the daily puzzles and the archive. And once you log in, you can save your progress across all the digital platforms.

Start With the Monday Puzzles

The Monday New York Times Crosswords are the easiest, and the puzzles get harder as the week goes on. Solve as many of the Mondays as you can before pushing yourself to Tuesday puzzles. You can thank us later.

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How to Solve the New York Times Crossword (2024)

FAQs

What is the hardest day of the New York Times crossword puzzle? ›

The crosswords are designed to increase in difficulty throughout the week, with the easiest on Monday and the most difficult on Saturday. The larger Sunday crossword, which appears in The New York Times Magazine, is an icon in American culture; it is typically intended to be a "Thursday-plus" in difficulty.

How do I reset my New York Times crossword puzzle? ›

If you are stuck on a word, select the lifesaver icon at the top of the puzzle to check or reveal a square, an answer, or the entire puzzle: Clear - Clear the entire puzzle to start again. Reveal - Reveal the correct letters for a square, an answer, or the entire puzzle.

What is the best way to solve a crossword puzzle? ›

Tips for Solving Crossword Puzzles
  1. Believe in yourself. ...
  2. Use a pencil, not a pen. ...
  3. Tackle the easiest clues first. ...
  4. Confirm an answer by solving the entries that cross it. ...
  5. Make guesses. ...
  6. It's okay to look stuff up! ...
  7. Ask a friend for help. ...
  8. Take a break.
Feb 1, 2022

How to fill in rebus on nyt crossword app? ›

Tap the More key on the bottom left-hand side of the screen. Step 2: Tap the Rebus key on the bottom right-hand side of the screen. This will open a larger square in which you can type multiple letters. Step 3: Type in the letters and then tap anywhere inside the grid to close and save your rebus.

How to get better at the nyt crossword? ›

How to Get Better at Crosswords
  1. 1 Tackle fill-in-the-blanks first.
  2. 2 Fill in 3- and 4-letter words you know.
  3. 3 Check the tense and number in the clues.
  4. 4 Look for formatting hints in the clues.
  5. 5 Familiarize yourself with common crossword answers.
  6. 6 Check intersecting words when you guess an answer.

What is scoring 100 on the nyt? ›

Scoring 100% on

The answer is acing.

How do you know if a nyt crossword has rebus in it? ›

According to The New York Times crosswords editor, Will Shortz, “A 'rebus' in a crossword is anything that gets entered in a square that's not a single letter of the alphabet.” That can mean you have to jam more than one letter into a square or use digits.

What is just above 10 in the nyt? ›

It's just above 10

The answer is jack.

How to play past nytimes crosswords? ›

Games App
  1. Navigate to the Archive tab at the bottom of the Games app homepage.
  2. Select either The Crossword or The Mini.
  3. Select the month and year you would like to see puzzles from.
  4. Select the puzzle you would like to play. This will download the puzzle. ...
  5. Select the puzzle again to begin play.

What is the most used word in crossword puzzles? ›

Most Common Crossword Puzzle Answers
  • Era – a distinct period of history with a unique characteristic.
  • Area – a region or part of the world; the extent or measurement of a surface.
  • Ere – an old English word meaning “before.”
  • One – half of two; a specific person or thing.
  • Eli – a Hebrew name meaning “High” or “elevated.”
Nov 18, 2017

What does a dash mean in NYT crossword? ›

WEDNESDAY PUZZLE — The small dashes in a puzzle's list of clues can signify a number of things. They can refer to the name of a symbol: a dash, a minus sign or a hyphen, for example.

Is doing crossword puzzles good for the brain? ›

Research has shown a positive correlation between crossword puzzles and daily life functions, especially for people with mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Experts emphasize that larger clinical trials are needed to unravel the observed associations between crossword puzzles and how our brains function.

How to figure out a rebus puzzle? ›

Word Association: Associate the images or letters with common words or phrases that they sound or look like. This approach can help you connect the dots and solve the puzzle. Context Matters: Consider the context of the rebus puzzle's meaning. Sometimes, a theme or topic may provide clues to the hidden message.

What do the circles mean in the nyt crossword? ›

Although not present in all crossword types, circles are typically placed around letter squares in crosswords to refer to squares that will form part of a theme. After solving the crossword, the circled letters can be combined together to spell a word associated with the theme, or name the theme itself.

What is the rebus button? ›

The Rebus Button in NYT Crossword: A Twist in Puzzle Solving. Sky Headlines. The Rebus Button in NYT Crossword: A Twist in Puzzle Solving Introduction The "Rebus" button in the New York Times (NYT) crossword puzzle offers solvers a unique challenge by allowing multiple letters or symbols to occupy a single square.

What is the hardest day of the week crossword? ›

How hard could it be? The Saturday crossword is actually the hardest puzzle of the week. Mondays have the most straightforward clues and Saturday clues are the hardest, or involve the most wordplay. Contrary to popular belief, the Sunday puzzles are midweek difficulty, not the hardest.

Is the Sunday Times crossword the hardest? ›

Comparison of cryptic crosswords
CrosswordFrequencyDifficulty
The TimesDailyMedium-hard
The HinduDailyMedium
The ListenerSaturdayVery hard
The Sunday TimesSundayMedium
18 more rows

What days of the week are the NYT crossword puzzles on? ›

In case you didn't know, the daily New York Times Crossword has a difficulty curve as the week goes on. Monday is the easiest puzzle, and then Tuesday is a little harder, climbing up to Saturday, which is the hardest day of the week.

Are Wednesday crosswords hard? ›

If you do the puzzle on a daily basis through the week, the Wednesday may not always be harder than Tuesday, Thursday may not always be harder than Wednesday. But if you do the puzzle long enough, the trend shows that it does get harder as the week goes on.”

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