How to Solve The New York Times Crossword Puzzle

Guide Note

The New York Times prints one of the best--and most challenging--crosswords around. This page will put you on the right track to being a master of the puzzle!

Table of Contents

New York Times Crossword Tips

  1. Use a pencil with an eraser.
  2. Start with the short words and simple clues.
  3. Consult a friend or a reference work if you need help.
  4. Practice!
  5. If you really start to get good, think about joining the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

Introduction

  • Solving crossword puzzles has been a time-honored pastime ever since the first crossword appeared in the New York World in 1913. The New York Times Crossword has been published since 1930, and it is renowned today as perhaps the pinnacle of American crosswords.1
  • As fun as the Times crossword is, however, it can be very difficult. It is often assembled by some of the most notable crossword constructors, and it follows its own in-house rules and logic. This guide can help you get used to the world of the New York Times crossword, and put you on the path of a pen-wielding puzzle solver.

What You'll Need

    • NOTE: The easiest Times crossword--and best to start with--is the Monday crossword. The puzzles increase in difficulty through the week, culminating in the most difficult puzzle on Saturday. The Sunday puzzle, which is printed in the Times Magazine (and syndicated in newspapers across the country), is larger than all the other puzzles, but generally much easier than Saturday's (Times crossword editor Will Shortz rates it as "Thursday-plus").3
  • A pencil. Daredevils may complete their puzzles in pen, but if you're starting fresh, you will want to be able to adjust your answers when you start juggling all the wordplay.

Step 1: Start Small

  • Though each puzzle is going to have enough wordplay to truly rack your brain, almost all will have a fair amount of short words that you may be able to get immediately.
  • This could mean:
  1. Filling in the blanks of a set phrase.
  2. Knowing the name of a world capital.
  3. Remembering the last name of an actress or singer.
  • If you find yourself spending a lot of time on a short answer, move on to another clue and come back to the hard one later.
    • NOTE: The more crosswords you try, the more you will start to recognize some repeat appearances by certain crossword-friendly short words (e.g. EPEE, SNEE, ALOE, and other examples of "crosswordese"), and that can help you fill in a lot of words in this first phase.4

Step 2: Build From There

  • (Creative Commons photo by Missy S.)
    (Creative Commons photo by Missy S.)
    Now you can try building on the letters you have already filled in the puzzle--and here is where the wordplay really begins.
  1. Try to think of puns or double meanings on words in the clues. As Shortz puts it, "mental flexibility is a great asset" here.3
  2. Keep in mind some of the internal "rules" that crosswords tend to follow. For example, a clue with an abbreviated word (instead of the "abbr." hint, which sometimes appears) will have an abbreviated answer--the clue "Big Ten sch." for a three-letter answer could have OSU or MSU, two abbreviations of universities in the Big Ten athletic conference.5
  3. Feel free to act on a hunch--that's why we're using a pencil, to erase any hunches gone wrong. Plus, the act of writing your guess in the puzzle can help spark new ideas for answers (Many Scrabble players use a similar trick to help them construct words, as they repeatedly arrange and rearrange the letters on their rack to find new combinations they hadn't thought of before).6

Step 3: Identify the Theme

  • The crux of most Times crosswords is the theme at the heart of the puzzle.
  1. The theme usually consists of the longest answers in the puzzle.7
  2. The words combine in a few ways. They usually do one of a few things:8
    1. Tell a brief joke
    2. Cite a witty quotation
    3. Show off an especially clever turn of phrase

Use the Theme to Your Advantage

  1. Fill in the shorter answers in the puzzle first.9
  2. Wait on answering the longer words until you start to get an idea of the controlling theme.9
  3. Now that you understand the theme, you should be able to fill in the blanks more easily.10
  4. Don't forget to bask in a gratifying "Eureka!" moment as you fill in a long stretch of the puzzle all at once.
    • NOTE: Though its size may make it daunting, the Sunday crossword often showcases puzzles with the craftiest, most cunning themes around.11 Even if you are new to solving, the Sunday puzzle can be a greatly entertaining weekend challenge.

Step 4: Get Help

  • If you've tried every word combination you can think of, and still can't get an answer, look it up. Or ask a friend. There's no shame in needing a hint (the Times itself runs a telephone answer line, after all), and learning a fun new word or fact is just as gratifying as solving a word puzzle on your own.3
  • Of course, if you're really getting hooked, you might think solving the puzzle without help is very important to you (next thing you know, you'll be using a pen, too), in which case the final step is the most important.

Step 5: Practice

  • Just as practice is paramount to developing any other skill, trying more crosswords is the best way complete more crosswords. With every crossword you try, you will get a better feel for the kinds of wordplay that lead to an answer, and you'll build a storehouse in your head of the right answers for any recurring crossword clues. Soon enough you will be tackling the Saturday puzzle, the hardest of them all!

Subscribe to Mahalo's Weekly How To Email Newsletter

  • Get our best How To tips and ideas in your inbox each week

References for How To Solve The New York Times Crossword Puzzle

  1. ↑ American Crossword Puzzle Tournament: Brief History of Crossword Puzzles
  2. ↑ New york Times: Crosswords & Games
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 New York Times: ENDPAPER: HOW TO; Solve The New York Times Crossword Puzzle (April 8, 2001)
  4. ↑ BarelyBad: A Monograph on Crossword Puzzles
  5. ↑ BarelyBad: "Rules" of the Puzzle
  6. ↑ Helium: Tips for playing Scrabble
  7. ↑ CRUCIVERB.COM: Basic Rules of Crossword Constrcution
  8. ↑ CRUCIVERB.COM: Advice on themes
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament: How'd They Do That?: The Anatomy of a Crossword Puzzle
  10. ↑ American Crossword Puzzle Tournament: Math professor and crossword constructor gives puzzle advice
  11. ↑ American Crossword Puzzle Tournament: Constructive Creations

Additional Crossword Puzzle Resources