The local (Chicago) free commuter paper has an abysmally easy crossword puzzle - if I get done with the Sudoku early I sometimes do the crossword by doing all the across clues, turning to the down clues if I get stuck but not writing anything down.
Since there aren’t a lot of crossword threads I hope you won’t mind if I mention it here.
A couple of weeks ago I was working one where the answer to an across was “The Straight Dope.” Then, a couple more clues down and the answer to a large wind was “Tuba.”
I stared.
Almost. I do the Times Monday and Tuesday, and usually Wednesday puzzles by filling in the words in across order - though I might cheat and look at down clues as a check, I never fill in the letter going down lower than the row I’m working on.
When I was in grad school I was able to do acrostics in my head - I had ti have the book, but I could solve the entire puzzle and get the reading without writing anything down. I did an entire Middleton book that way before I quit. I’m not nearly that smart anymore.