# How to get better at crosswords? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 16, 2020, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925 "2020-05-16T14:48:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/81 "2020-05-25T19:05:36Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > No, he does them on an app (not sure if computer or iPad – I assume computer.) When he doesn’t, he mentions that it was done on pen & paper. I do it on the computer – it’s faster than iPad. Like I said, my fastest Monday is 4:07, so I can see getting sub 4, but the sub 3s astound me. I think he’s had some around 2:30 even (!?!) Like, today’s he called “medium-challenging” (it wasn’t, but there were a few holes in his knowledge that made it difficult for him), but he still hit a 3:20. My time today was 6:40. (My average time usually ends up being about 3 Rexes, so this one was only 2 Rexes! A success!) I thought I was going to finish somewhere in the 4 or 5s, but I got knotted up somewhere. Can’t remember where. > [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I started today’s at 2PM EDT and finished at 2:06 by the digital kitchen clock, meaning I got through it somewhere between five and six minutes. And that was the time it took to write in the answers (pen and newspaper), because I sure didn’t slow down anywhere. The long across that screwed Rex Parker came to me right away, as it was the last movie I’ve seen by that particular director. I didn’t know the second long across, but it was easy to suss, and the downs filled it in for me. And the third was a ridiculous gimme. 6:13 for me today, I did get briefly stuck somewhere. I think I’m going to try doing it on the laptop, I’m just used to the iPad because I also do spelling bee. ETA: posted before I finished. Whatever method he uses, I am hugely impressed by his times… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/82 "2020-05-25T20:52:31Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I started today’s at 2PM EDT and finished at 2:06 by the digital kitchen clock, meaning I got through it somewhere between five and six minutes. And that was the time it took to write in the answers (pen and newspaper), because I sure didn’t slow down anywhere. The long across that screwed Rex Parker came to me right away, as it was the last movie I’ve seen by that particular director. I didn’t know the second long across, but it was easy to suss, and the downs filled it in for me. And the third was a ridiculous gimme. I didn’t know the first across, but that was easy to figure out when the downs fell in. The second long clue and third one were both gimmes to me (as I use that particular feature on the iPhone a lot and, even though I don’t watch Star Trek, come on, everybody should know that.) Yeah, I think it was the SW that slowed me down the most. Probably lost a minute there. And there was some other place that went slower than it should. Out of the gate, I thought I was shooting for a possible new record. ---
**Author:** ![FastDan1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fastdan1/32/427_2.png) [@FastDan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FastDan1)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/83 "2020-05-26T14:24:34Z")
My best Monday time is 7:34. I’m not sure I could copy the answers from a completed puzzle in 4:00. I do try to force myself to only answer clues that are connected to others that I’ve already filled in, so that may slow me down a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/84 "2020-05-26T17:03:12Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, I think it was the SW that slowed me down the most. Probably lost a minute there. And there was some other place that went slower than it should. Out of the gate, I thought I was shooting for a possible new record. In the SW I had “loo” in instead of “lav.” Didn’t take long to see I’d screwed up. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/85 "2020-05-26T17:38:06Z")
> [@FastDan1](#): > > My best Monday time is 7:34. I’m not sure I could copy the answers from a completed puzzle in 4:00. I do try to force myself to only answer clues that are connected to others that I’ve already filled in, so that may slow me down a bit. Now try to imagine doing it in 2:30-ish like Rex does? My strategy for speed-solving Mondays is just to tab through all the across clues and if I don’t know the answer within a second, move on to the next one and fill in as many of the obvious acrosses, then tab through the downs. Sometimes I’ll do the strategy of getting a few accrosses and then go through the downs that branch off there. I’m not sure if that works better for me, as I just try to fill in as many “gimmes” the first pass through the puzzle and go from there. I don’t bother thinking about the theme; most of the time, for the early days of the week, thinking about the theme and trying to figure it out just slows me down. Later in the week, the themers are more important to me to suss out the puzzle. Today’s time was 7:42. Got knotted up in the NE for some reason. Reasonably average Tuesday puzzle. I got annoyed because in the NW, there was a “score after deuce” clue, and I’ve seen that clue a million times, and I’ve watched and played tennis, but I couldn’t remember anything beyond the first two letters of that answer. Couldn’t think of the word. So obvious when I got the fill, but it should have been a gimme. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/86 "2020-05-26T19:18:36Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Now try to imagine doing it in 2:30-ish like Rex does? > > My strategy for speed-solving Mondays is just to tab through all the across clues and if I don’t know the answer within a second, move on to the next one and fill in as many of the obvious acrosses, then tab through the downs. Sometimes I’ll do the strategy of getting a few accrosses and then go through the downs that branch off there. I’m not sure if that works better for me, as I just try to fill in as many “gimmes” the first pass through the puzzle and go from there. I don’t bother thinking about the theme; most of the time, for the early days of the week, thinking about the theme and trying to figure it out just slows me down. Later in the week, the themers are more important to me to suss out the puzzle. > > Today’s time was 7:42. Got knotted up in the NE for some reason. Reasonably average Tuesday puzzle. I got annoyed because in the NW, there was a “score after deuce” clue, and I’ve seen that clue a million times, and I’ve watched and played tennis, but I couldn’t remember anything beyond the first two letters of that answer. Couldn’t think of the word. So obvious when I got the fill, but it should have been a gimme. Similar here. For Monday through Wednesday I generally grab the first three acrosses if I can, then the downs off them, then back to acrosses, etc. Later in the week, I go looking for answers that I know. My iPad app is a little quirky, I don’t know my best times in some cases because for a while at the start I didn’t notice that it wasn’t counting…I have some absurdly low scores for some days. Now I take a look when I start, and if it is not counting I refresh. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/87 "2020-05-26T20:36:12Z")
For me with the app, it seems easier to just hit next, next, next, next (and that’s where the cursor goes when you fill in an answer) - and then go through all of one direction and then all of the other direction. Because the “theme” answers on Sunday through Thursday tend to be across more than down, I do Down first, then Across so that when I do hit the theme answers, they have enough filled in to make them easier to guess. I think the faster people do them in sections, but I think that would take more time fiddling around with the app. 7:36 today. the top left corner was out of my wheelhouse. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/88 "2020-05-28T02:41:50Z")
Thursday is often my _bete noire_, but a reasonable puzzle led to 14:29 on tomorrow’s. I’ve tried going back and doing some older puzzles on the keyboard, that will take some adjustment if I want to stick with it… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/89 "2020-05-31T20:32:42Z")
Then sometimes the puzzles are just stupid, like today’s (5/31) NYTimes puzzle, which made no sense at all. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/90 "2020-05-31T21:01:25Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Then sometimes the puzzles are just stupid, like today’s (5/31) NYTimes puzzle, which made no sense at all. What? Today’s puzzle was cool, and would have been in epically bad taste if that rocket failed. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/91 "2020-05-31T21:12:48Z")
And I thought the title made it clear what they were going for. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/92 "2020-06-01T23:48:33Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Then sometimes the puzzles are just stupid, like today’s (5/31) NYTimes puzzle, which made no sense at all. There have been several earlier puzzles with similar tricks. Plus the clues were pretty easy. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/93 "2020-06-02T06:02:06Z")
Today I learned that if you do yesterday‘s puzzle at two in the morning ET on the app, it still counts towards your streak. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/94 "2020-06-02T16:43:47Z")
You have until midnight PST. Found from experience of being barely on both sides of that line. It very much focuses you when you realize during the Daily Show moment of Zen that you haven’t done the crossword yet. ---
**Author:** ![FastDan1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fastdan1/32/427_2.png) [@FastDan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FastDan1)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/95 "2020-06-04T13:43:10Z")
Is it just me, or have Thursday puzzles been easier lately? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/96 "2020-06-04T13:45:47Z")
> [@FastDan1](#): > > Is it just me, or have Thursday puzzles been easier lately? I got a new record today! 11:29! I think the theme was fun, but easy to solve, which makes the whole puzzle easier. ---
**Author:** ![FastDan1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fastdan1/32/427_2.png) [@FastDan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FastDan1)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/97 "2020-06-04T14:06:02Z")
I’m not a speed demon. My Thursday average is 42:36 and I occasionally need to look something up. Today’s was 18:51 with no cheating. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/98 "2020-06-04T15:30:10Z")
> [@FastDan1](#): > > I’m not a speed demon. My Thursday average is 42:36 and I occasionally need to look something up. Today’s was 18:51 with no cheating. Maybe you could ask the mods to change your user name. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FastDan1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fastdan1/32/427_2.png) [@FastDan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FastDan1)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/99 "2020-06-04T17:32:40Z")
🙂 Speed is relative. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925/100 "2020-06-05T12:28:27Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > You have until midnight PST. > Found from experience of being barely on both sides of that line. It very much focuses you when you realize during the Daily Show moment of Zen that you haven’t done the crossword yet. lol I can well imagine that. Does anyone here do the acrostics as well? My wife and I both do, and as a result we’re already back through the archives to 2015. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-better-at-crosswords/853925.md?page=6)