Quotes | Summary | Cryptics | References

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Quotes

• "Q. Is it 'cheating' to consult a dictionary or other reference sources
  when stumped by a crossword puzzle clue?...
  A. It's your puzzle. Solve it any way you want."
  ~Will Weng 2nd NYT Crossword Ed.; as quoted by Will Shortz
• "What I want, the ideal, is for you to be stressed to the limit... and then
  finally break through and finish. Because that brings you the most pleasure
  and then that's what brings me the most pleasure." ~Will Shortz
• "A crossword puzzle is a battle between the... puzzle maker and editor on one side
  and the solver on the other. But unlike most battles, both sides here have
  the same goal -- for the solver to win." ~Will Shortz
• "When I used to commute into NYC, I'd sometimes play 'crossword golf,'
  a simple game I concocted to add an extra challenge to early-week puzzles.
  The object is to get as low a score as possible:
• PAR:... A clue can be read once for free.
• BOGEY:... Coming back and rereading a clue adds a stroke.
• BIRDIE:... Filling in an answer without reading its clue deducts a stroke.
• EAGLE:... Filling in a theme answer without reading its clue deducts two strokes.
  ~Crossword Golf by Patrick Merrell
• "New Rule: The person who sat in my seat on the flight before me and could
  not finish... the 'People' magazine crossword puzzle has to be ashamed of themselves.
  I don't know who you are, but 'Desperate _____wives'? Nothing?
  
  A three-letter word for 'Writing utensil, you're holding it in your hand''
  
  Here's one more for you: 'Four letters, begins with a v,
  something you shouldn't be allowed to do this November.'" ~Bill Maher
• [easy] "I like to finish easy crossword puzzles,... walk into big corporations,
  slam them onto the front desk, and say 'There's more where this came from.'"
• [Mini] "I started with the minis too because I was afraid of... the big one.
  What you should do is start with the Monday," the actor, who is at a solid
  Thursday level, advised me. "Just keep doing Monday puzzles and then
  you'll graduate to Tuesday, and then to Wednesday, and to Thursday."
  ~5 Questions with Brandon Uranowitz from Burn This
• [Mon] 30A. "Like a Monday crossword, typically"... EASY
  ~NYT; Mon, 2/4/19
• [Wed] "I've been working on 'The New York Times'
  crossword puzzle on the subway...
  I can make it until about Wednesday." ~Eddie Kaye Thomas
• [Fri] "My recipe for bliss on a Friday night... consists of a NYT
  crossword puzzle and a new episode of 'Homicide." ~Caroline Knapp
• [Sat] A librarian in Portland... once waived all my fines because
  "Nobody who can solve the Saturday New York Times crossword
  should ever have to pay library fines in their life."
• [Sat] "I pay attention... to the news. I take the New York Times.
  I do the Saturday crossword." ~Dick Van Dyke
• [Sun] "Men in their forties are like... the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle:
  tricky, complicated, and you're never really sure you got the right answer."
  ~Carrie Bradshaw in 'Sex in the City'
• [Sun] "I want to know everything there is to know... about Lewis and Clark.
  And I want to do the Sunday crossword in less than an hour. I want to be
  the best dad in the world. I want to play Richard II, and I want to win
  another Tony award." ~Robert Sean Leonard
• [Sun] "Good Morning Sunday!...
  Coffee plus a crossword puzzle equals my Sunday Morning." ~Unknown
• [hardest] "The New York Times reports that Chinese hackers broke
  into its computer system,... a security breach resulting in what
  observers describe as 'the hardest crossword puzzle ever.'"
  ~Dave Barry’s Year in Review: 2013 was a zombie of a year
• [any] "I love doing the 'New York Times' crossword puzzle,...
  even on the days I can't finish it." ~Lauren Graham

Summary

• Choose a level of difficulty appropriate for you
• Balance challenge and frustration -- not too easy, not impossible
• 'mini' (5 x 5) puzzle, e.g., NYT; very easy
• larger puzzles are not necessarily more difficult,
  but can intimidate and take longer
• 'commuter' puzzle = same weekday difficulty, e.g., Newsday?, USA Today
• NYT, LAT (15 x 15): Mon = 'easiest', ..., Sat = 'most difficult';
  NYT Sun (21 x 21) = ~'hard Wed / easy Thu'
• Crossword difficulty matrix for various mainstream(ish) puzzles, by day of week; 5/15/2021
• Discussion of crossword (Wed, NYT 9/7/2022),
  whose theme entries described a new solver tackling Mon-Fri crosswords
• Mon-Sun NYT Crosswords (songs; .mp3) by John Schnall;
  MayasMix @ Mo: 79:49; Tu: 79:54; We: 80:13; Th: 80:52; Fr: 81:54; Sa: 82:47; Su: 83:38
• Saturday Stumper" (Newsday) themeless -- even harder?
• Mon-level clues, e.g.: "Nabisco cookie," "Cookie with creme filling", "'Twist, Lick, Dunk' cookie"
• Sat-level clues, e.g.: "Snack since 1912", "It has 12 flowers on each side", "Sandwich often given a twist"
• Easy Mode: NYT Friday themeless crossword with easier (Wed-level) clues
• The New Yorker’s crosswords Mon: hardest; Thu: easiest; Fri: themed
• "As I age, I find I am stumped by cultural clues. Digital references,
  pop culture and other things I seem to be missing out on. I used to make it
  through Wednesday but now Tuesdays are getting tough.
  
  Just about every day, people write in to let us know that the day's puzzle
  was too difficult. And yet, on those very same days, other people tell us
  that the puzzle was too easy. Whether you find a puzzle easy or difficult
  largely depends on whether you have a shared experience with the constructor.
  The average age of our crossword constructors is decreasing; more puzzles
  are being made by Gen Z-ers and millennials. As our team of editors has
  expanded over the past few years, it’s natural that the references in
  puzzles have become more varied.
  
  The good news is that there's no shame in looking things up! Just because
  you don't know the cultural references that are making their way into
  crossword puzzles doesn't mean you can't still enjoy the puzzles.
  Give yourself permission to search for references you're not familiar with.
  The puzzle is meant to be fun, after all, and you might learn something new."
  ~Christina Iverson, Easy Mode newsletter, 5/3/2024
• "How do you classify puzzles on the scale of easy to hard?
  Crossword puzzles in The NYT get increasingly difficult throughout
  the week, with our easiest on Mondays and our hardest on Saturdays.
  Friday and Saturday grids are themeless, but every other day has themes.
  On Sundays, we run a bigger puzzle (21x21 instead of 15x15),
  but it’s about as hard as Wednesday or Thursday.
  
  A Monday theme will be relatively straightforward; it might involve
  hidden words, rhymes, phrases with similar letter patterns or phrases
  that fit in a certain category. A “revealer” will often let the solver
  know what the theme entries have in common. In this puzzle,
  IT HAD TO BE YOU is a phonetic hint at the two BU’s hiding in the
  theme entries: HAMBURGER BUN, TRIBUTE ALBUM and BUNSEN BURNER.
  A Monday theme should come with a grid that is free of obscure entries.
  If we really like a theme for a Monday but the grid has obscure vocabulary,
  we may ask the constructor to rework it to be more Monday-friendly.
  
  Tuesday and Wednesday puzzles generally have themes that are a little headier,
  or more punny. They tend to be the goofiest and most playful. They often
  involve manipulating familiar phrases in some way, playing with homophones,
  rhymes, or with adding or deleting letters. The difference between a Tuesday
  and a Wednesday is a little harder to pin down. Often a theme could run on
  either day, but we decide based on the difficulty of the vocabulary in the grid.
  
  In this FASHION POLICE puzzle from a Tuesday, phrases like DUST JACKET
  and FOLLOW SUIT are interpreted as articles of clothing that a detective
  might wear. In this Wednesday puzzle, the phrases are made-up syllable
  palindromes like TIC TAC TOE TACTIC and GO FAR IN FARGO."
  ~Christina Iverson, Easy Mode newsletter, 1/19/2024
• "Thursday crosswords often have a gimmick that can throw solvers for a loop if
  they’re not expecting it. Puzzles with rebuses (those with multiple letters
  in a square) and other dastardly tricks are usually reserved for Thursdays.
  Sometimes, theme entries might change direction in the grid or skip over squares.
  Perhaps there are letters that should be written outside of the grid or on top
  of black squares. Occasionally, letters in the clues should be ignored.
  If there’s a trick we’ve never seen before, there’s a good chance we’ll
  run the puzzle on a Thursday.
  
  Friday and Saturday puzzles are themeless and challenging because
  of the tricky clues. When we review them, we’re looking at the vocabulary
  in the grid to determine whether it’s a more approachable themeless grid
  on a Friday, or a tough puzzle that we expect more experienced solvers
  to try on a Saturday. Sometimes a puzzle with relatively familiar phrases
  and vocabulary might end up on a Saturday not because the grid is difficult,
  but because it has a lot of potential for tricky wordplay. We think about both
  the clues and the entries when determining whether a puzzle is better suited
  for a Friday or Saturday." ~Christina Iverson, Easy Mode newsletter, 1/26/2024
• "It takes time to pick up a skill, and learning to solve crosswords can be
  like learning a new language. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are a
  great way to start. Thursday puzzles can be much harder to master because
  they often involve gimmicks. Sometimes there are rebuses, with multiple
  letters in one box, or there might be theme entries that twist and turn
  or jump over other squares. If you haven’t encountered these tricks,
  they can be baffling and frustrating. The more you encounter Thursdays,
  the faster you’ll pick up on what’s going on. Practice is really the
  best advice I can give. If solving a Thursday puzzle makes you want to
  throw your phone across the room in despair, you might want to consider
  reading about it on Wordplay. Deb Amlen gives a lot of tips and tricks
  for solving Thursday puzzles and very clearly explains that day’s theme.
  When I started solving late-week puzzles, I frequently read her column
  when I got stuck. Sure, some might call it cheating, but it helped me
  understand the wide array of tricks I might expect to encounter.
  One of the most satisfying and exciting “aha” moments I’ve ever had was
  the first time I uncovered a Thursday gimmick by myself. Be gracious
  with yourself, and allow yourself to take on late-week puzzles with
  as much hand-holding as you need. It’s supposed to be fun after all."
  ~Christina Iverson, Easy Mode newsletter, 2/23/2024
• "Why do older puzzles from the archive seem so much more difficult than same-day ones today?
  People have different opinions about whether crosswords are getting
  harder or easier; I’ve also heard people ask why crosswords are getting
  harder! I tend to agree, though, that puzzles today feel more approachable
  to more people than puzzles from, say, 10 years ago. When crossword
  constructing software became more popular, it became easier for constructors
  to make puzzles that rely less heavily on 'crosswordese.' Some entries
  that frequent older puzzles are rarely used today. For instance, AARE,
  the Swiss river, was used 317 times before 2014; in the last 10 years,
  we’ve used it 10 times. Other bits of crosswordese that have fallen
  out of fashion: the Latin ESSE, the Algerian port ORAN, the Russian city
  OREL, the Greek colonnade STOA and the old term for a feudal laborer, ESNE.
  
  When constructors are able to speed up the constructing process with software,
  they’re more able (and more willing) to work to find fun entries, rather
  than getting stuck with whatever convenient string of letters holds the
  puzzle together. As more and more people have started constructing puzzles,
  editors can afford to be far pickier than they used to be. We put more
  focus on having “real words” in the crossword, and we make an effort
  to make puzzles feel fun, rather than like a history or geography exam."
  ~Christina Iverson, Easy Mode newsletter, 3/1/2024
• You can make any puzzle easier, e.g., by asking a partner/friend or using tools (later)
• How to Tackle a Humongous (50 x 50) Crossword Puzzle 768 clues; mid-week difficulty; NYT; 12/13/2023
•    -- or harder, e.g., 'Crossword Golf' -- or use ink
• When you're ready for a bigger challenge,
  try a bigger puzzle: Terminology&Types: Grid Size: examples, e.g., NYT Super Mega
  [right: Steve solving 2022 Super Mega: 67 x 41; 728 clues]
• or enter a tournament, e.g., American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT)
  -- or at least try their puzzles? others: Fame: Tournaments
• or maybe a British-style Cryptic (solve one in class -- upon request?) -- see next

"And Now For Something Completely Different": Cryptics

• "There are crossword puzzles and crossword puzzles."
  One kind, the conventional American crossword:
  "mechanical test of tirelessly esoteric knowledge
  [that would send you] either to Webster's New International or to sleep.”
  The other kind (cryptic):
  “[possessed of] cleverness, humor, and even a pseudo-aphoristic grace."
  ~Stephen Sondheim, 1968.
• Wikipedia: Crossword, Cryptic Crosswords
• British (UK) and US (American) crosswords differ in several ways
  -- these two formats/styles appear in many other countries too,
  but we'll use the terms British & US as convenient labels:
• Name of Puzzle: British: Cryptic (or Quick/Concise) (sometimes Crossword?);
  US: Crossword; (in 1910s: Word-Cross, then Cross-Word); some US Cryptics, e.g., NYT, New Yorker
• Authors: British "Setters" or "Compilers" typically use a pseudonym;
  US "Constructors" usually identified with real names
• Theme: British puzzles are themeless;
  many US puzzles have themes (some with titles),
  some are themeless, e.g., NYT Fri&Sat, Newsday Saturday Stumper
• Grid: British puzzles normally use an alternate-letter grid pattern;
  US newspaper-style puzzles are fully-crossed;
  free-form / vocabulary-style word puzzles aren't fully crossed
• Fill: British lattice-like grids allow more word possibilities, spelling & vocabulary differences;
  US puzzles have fewer word options due to more crossings.
• Clues: Cryptic-style clues usually include two parts:
• 1) a definition (straight part), usually at beginning or end;
  'Quick' or 'Concise' puzzles use only 'Straight' definitions for clues.
• 2) a cryptic/'wordplay' part , e.g., anagram, charades (homonyms), deletions, reversals, etc.;
  with a hidden rule for the type suggested by Abbreviations and Indicators
• Sometimes it's difficult to figure out which part is which;
  occasionally both clue parts might be combined;
  end of clue often includes word lengths for phrases, e.g., (3,2,5).
• The Browser: Cryptic Clue Quiz
• video: How To Solve a Cryptic Crossword Games Magazine; 1:21:21; 8/19/2020
• Cryptic crosswords: A puzzling British obsession BBC; 3/3/2021
• New Yorker interactive Cryptic clue guide Anagram, Hidden Word, Homophone, Double Definition,
  Assemblage (Charade), Deletion, Reversal, Container, Bits and Pieces, Multiple
• Cryptics in America: part 1; part 2 Guardian; 7/19/2012, 11/5/2020
• Comparison of cryptic crosswords difficulty ranked by source
• For more guides, see: Solving:Refs:Cryptics
• NYT: Puns and Anagrams (PandAs) crosswords have a fully-crossed grid,
  but use a small subset of cryptic-style clue types
  -- no longer in NYT archive (see xwordinfo.com: Variety)
• Aries: PandAs
• Stephen Sondheim Didn't Just Change Musicals Forever Slate; 12/4/2021

References

• example puzzle: NYT (Sun), 1/23/2011 [$: .puz]
  = "1/30/11" (Mail Tribune) [.pdf] (filled in by Steve); [puzzle]; [solution]
• Easy Mode
  Get an easy version of one of the hardest crossword puzzles of the week, with clues by Christina Iverson, a puzzle editor.
  a new weekly newsletter where you will receive an extra, easy-to-solve puzzle on Wednesdays.
  The grid will be the same as the Friday themeless crossword, but with an alternative, easy set of clues.
  With Easy Mode, you can enjoy the fun vocabulary in themeless puzzles without getting tripped up by misdirects and vague clues. NYT; 7/5/2023
• Mini to Maestro:
  1. Crosswords for Beginners Mini, Mon, Tue; NYT; 9/19/2022;
  2. Intermediate Solving Wed, Thu; NYT; 9/19/2022;
  3. Advanced Puzzles themeless: Fri, Sat; themed & titled: Sun; NYT; 9/19/2022
• How to Solve The New York Times Crossword tutorial; e.g., Monday-level puzzles; NYT; 11/2017;
  NYT: Mon Level Easy: Mini example
• What a crossword puzzle can teach us about programming casual vs. expert mode: error feedback; 8/6/2022
• Crossword Puzzles of Our Lives (Looking Outside In and Inside Out) facing life's challenges
• Survey: Nearly 3 in 5 Say Managing Money More Demanding Than Solving A Crossword 4/12/2022
• How American-Style Crosswords Are More Polite Than Their British Counterparts
  "Natick": when two obscure (or same genre) entries cross (which would be even more difficult in a cryptic); DB; 7/6/2020
• Kenneth Branagh Says ‘Tenet’ Reinvents the Wheel, Compares Script to Crossword Puzzle
  "I read this screenplay more times than I have ever read any other thing I have ever worked on.
  It was like doing the Times crossword puzzle every day, I would imagine.
  Except the film and the screenplay didn't expect you, or need you, to be an expert”; 6/8/2020
• Each Day I Challenge My Mind Solving the NYT Mini Crossword. Can You Say the Same? 2/20/2020
• Consulting Disasters, and How to Avoid Them The key to solving just about any crossword
  is starting with the shorter (i.e., easier) words and, in doing so, gain insight into
  the longer, more difficult ones...I’ve found that in just about any consulting engagement,
  a good analogy can be made to the approach I use in working crosswords; IW; 2/6/2020
• Facial Expressions for Reacting to the New York Times Crossword
  Distraught, thinking how disappointed that elementary-school teacher who believed in you would be;
  Wondering what a Hawaiian party is called, and if being at one would be more fun than doing the crossword; ...;
  NYkr; July 17, 2019
• The 7 best things from the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, ranked!
  #4. Lucas Glover came out of the scorer's room on Sunday with a fresh copy of the Sunday NYT crossword in hand.
  "Isn't the Sunday puzzle impossible?” he was asked. "Saturday’s harder"; 3/11/2019
• The Story Behind "The World's Hardest" Crossword Puzzle
  cryptic, as described by The Times, Mirror and Sun (amongst others); .pdf; 12/21/2018
• How I Mastered the Saturday NYT puzzle in 31 Days 8/8/2017
• How to Get Started Solving The New York Times Crossword Puzzle
  1. Start With the Monday Puzzles;
  2. Practice Makes, If Not Perfect, a Much Better Solver;
  3. Find Your ‘Gimmes’;
  4. Use the Crossings;
  5. Expand Your Territory;
  6. Be Open to Learning From the Puzzle;
  7. Take a Break if You Get Stuck;
  8. Solve With a Friend;
  9. What’s Up With Those “?” Clues, Anyway?
  10. Sit Back and Enjoy Your Accomplishment; NYT; 7/27/2017
• Since You Asked: Crossword outcome is a win-win
  Mail Tribune how has 2 large Sunday puzzles: NYT & easier Universal; MT; 12/11/2016
• A Tour Through Will Shortz's Puzzle Collection
  Puzzlemaster reveals which puzzle he cannot solve; ABC; 12/13/2013
• Interview with Rich Norris (LA Times) 3/23/2009
• The Two Ronnies - Crossword ;-)[video: 5:15]; 12/22/2007
• How to Solve the New York Times Crossword Puzzle Will Shortz; NYT; 4/8/2001
• Word Buff: 1. Select the Right Crossword Puzzles
• Feyer: 1. Find the puzzles that are right for you; 3. Challenge yourself

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Summary | Quotes | References

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Summary

• With more practice, you'll get better over time.
• When stuck, set a puzzle aside, take a break (or nap), and come back to it later.
• When really stuck, search online using a clue,
  or use an app's "Reveal Word" feature -- to fill-in one answer.
• Can you make progress after time or with a new crossing? Repeat as necessary.

Quotes

• "The nice thing about doing a crossword puzzle is,... you know there is a solution."
  ~Stephen Sondheim
• "The key to solving crosswords is mental flexibility...
  If one answer doesn’t seem to be working out, try something else." ~Will Shortz
• Mary: You know one of my favorite ingredients in crosswords is... perseverance.
  Every once in a while you’ll run into a doozy that you can't ever solve
  in a million years, but if you stick with it, you'll figure it out -- eventually.
  Worst thing you can do is leave it unfinished. It's never the solution is it?""
  Howard: "You know what my favorite part of our crossword is?
  When you realized you know something you didn't think you knew."
  from All About Steve
• "It's not the SAT.... You're allowed to put the puzzle down if you get frustrated.
  The fascinating thing to me is that your brain continues working on it in the background.
  When you come back to it, you might be able to fill in more than you thought you could."
  ~Deb Amlen
• "Try to solve as much as you can in each puzzle, and... don't stress when you can't finish one.
  For the ones you don’t know, if it's something way out of your knowledge comfort zone,
  look it up and read a bit more about it. It's fun, really! There is no shame in missing an answer
  or not finishing the puzzle. The key is learning what you missed. The more puzzles you solve,
  the easier it gets." ~Howard Barkin, 2016 champion of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
• An anthropologist told me how relaxing she finds it to... do the crossword puzzle.
  She loops from clue to clue effortlessly, allowing her mind "to wander as it wonders,"
  to use a Langston Hughes expression. And then, the moment she feels stuck,
  she leaves the puzzle aside for a few hours, even a few days.
  "The moment I return to it, it is as if I have been cleaned up, given a bath.
  Answers start being downloaded." ~Ilan Stavans
• "Some people think it's psuedo-science,... but it's called morphic resonance.
  It's when someone thinks of an idea, it makes it easier for someone else to think of the idea.
  That's why you should do crossword puzzles later in the day,
  because other people have thought about the answers." ~Rich Fulcher
• "I love doing the 'New York Times' crossword puzzle, even... on the days I can't finish it."
  ~Lauren Graham
• "I'm patient with crossword puzzles... and the most impatient golfer." ~Brett Hull
• "You know that thing where you're trying to do the crossword puzzle, and... you're trying to fit
  the word that's in your head in the puzzle, and then you go 'Ugh!' and you walk away,
  and then it comes to you. I'm interested in that moment. The release of expectation,
  and the release of pleasing yourself and pleasing anybody. Breaking the mindset." ~Jeffrey Tambor
• "Never leave a crossword... unfinished." ~Charles Krauthammer
• "People who work crossword puzzles know... that if they stop making progress,
  they should put the puzzle down for a while." ~Marilyn vos Savant

References

• How to solve a crossword puzzle? Doodle not Google SMH; 1/6/2022
• You Don't Truly Build a Habit Until After You Break Your Streak LH; 8/13/2020
• How to Solve The New York Times Crossword How To Get Started:
  Practice Makes, If Not Perfect, A Much Better Solver; Find Your 'Gimmes'; Use The Crossings, Luke;
  It's Not Cheating, It's Learning; Take A Break If You Get Stuck; Solve With A Friend;
  Sit Back And Enjoy Your Accomplishment; NYT; 11/2017
• How to strengthen your crossword-solving muscles -- the Diana NYAD way
  "We should never, ever give up"; 9/21/2013
• What I've Learned Through Crossword Puzzles 1/25/2013
• Sleep to Solve Crossword Puzzles Better 7/4/2010
• HSW 7: Take a Break; Word Buff: 4. Work on Your Mental Game
• about.com: 9. I Give Up!; Wonder 5. Take a Break
• Hinman's 5 tips Keep practicing; Keep an open mind; Be prepared to erase wrong answers;
  Keep staring at the damn thing; If you're still stuck, leave, do something non-intellectual, and come back

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Summary | Quotes | References

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Summary

• There's no "correct" sequence to read clues and solve a puzzle.
• It's ok to skip ahead or alternate direction, and make multiple passes.
• Fill 'easy' ("gimme") and FITB (Fill In The ___) answers first or if you get stuck.
• After filling in a word, focus on a subarea;
  use existing letters in crossing words -- switch between Across and Down.
• You might have to undo/erase an answer that fits but doesn't work.
• In a themed puzzle, if you figure out a long answer -- and the overall theme
  -- maybe look next at other long entries.
• In more difficult puzzles, sometimes the answer itself may be entered in a different direction,
  e.g., backwards, upwards, taking a bend, or skipping black squares;
  examples: e.g., NYT Thu, 1/21/2021; Universal, Sun, 1/13/2019: puz, sol pdf

Quotes

• “When, where and why did ‘Horizontal’ and ‘Vertical’ give way to ‘Across’ and ‘Down’?
  Interestingly, Margaret Farrar, who edited the New York Times crossword from 1942 to 1968,
  was also an editor or co-editor of Simon & Schuster puzzle books from its first publication
  of one in 1924 until her death in 1984. So, when she started as the very first editor
  for the New York Times Crossword in 1942, it seems she made the decision to use
  “Across” and “Down” instead of what she had used as an editor at Simon & Schuster.
  
  As for why, I cannot say. I imagine, though, that as crossword puzzles became more popular,
  it made sense to have a common lexicon that was used across outlets."
  ~Christina Iverson, NYT Easy Mode newsletter; NYT; 12/8/2023
• "If you do not change direction,... you may end up where you are heading." ~Lao Tzu
• "If you don't know where you are going,... you might wind up someplace else."
  (also: "When you reach a fork in the road, take it") ~Yogi Berra
• I asked a friend if crossword compilers made up words...
  He said "no, just down and across words""
• I'm doing a crossword, and I'm stuck on seven down.
  It's seven letters long and the clue is "Lemonade drink, not Sprite"...
  Oh no wait sorry that's not seven down, that's Seven Up.
• "Are you aware that the standard crossword format presents difficulties for lefties?...
  Lefties have to keep lifting their hand off the page to reveal the clues
  whereas righties can always view all of the clues at one time." (comment to Will Shortz)
• "Grab the low-hanging fruit first... That's what we call 'gimmes'.
  Go fill in your 'gimmes' because there's nothing like writing in the grid
  to really increase your confidence. And if your confidence increases,
  your abilities sometimes increase along with it." ~Deb Amlen
• "Koko B. Ware is a crossword wrestler:... he enters the ring vertically,
  and leaves horizontally." ~Jerry Lawler
• "You have brains in your head...
  You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
  You're on your own, and you know what you know.
  And you are the guy who'll decide where to go." ~Dr. Seuss
• "Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?...
  The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to
  Alice: I don't much care where.
  The Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.
  Alice: ...so long as I get somewhere.
  The Cat: Oh, you're sure to do that, if only you walk long enough."
  ~Lewis Carroll

References

• about.com: 1. FITB; 4. Guess!; 5. Don't Jump To Conclusions
• HSW 3: Start with What You Know Right Away; HSW 1: Work in Clusters of Columns
• HSW 9: Avoid Intersecting Unfamiliar Entries; Wonder 4. Erase Your Answers
• Newsday Crossword Solving Hints

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Summary | Quotes | Muses, Patron Saints and Superheroes |
References: General | Animals | Characters / Names | Dictionaries | Geography |
What/Who the Heck.../Stumper | Languages | OREO | Crosswordese

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Summary

• There are many meanings and contexts of words, e.g.,
  Why 'Run' Is The Most Complex Word in the English Language MF; 5/17/2019
• More than one word (of same length) might satisfy the definition,
  especially if ambiguous -- use crossing entries to eliminate possibilities.
• The pattern/features of a clue usually mirror the answer entry,
  e.g., noun: singular/plural; verb tense: present, past, infinitive, gerund
• If the answer entry is a phrase, rather than a single word,
  the mirroring can occur before the last word
• Language of the clue, e.g., French, Latin, Spanish, almost always indicates language of answer.
• We'll see many examples of 'clue-answer mirroring' later in Decode Clues.
• Letter sequences are common: abbrev., acronyms, 'alphabetic trio', compass dir.,
  initials of author/president, phone keypad, prefix, Roman numerals, suffix,
  tictactoe (O,X), time zones, TV/cable networks, etc.
• "[var.]" usually indicates a variant spelling; theme phrases may be misspelled for the sake of puns.
• The language of clues and answers will often reflect the decade of the puzzle,
  and style/preferences of the author & editor.
• Answer words should not appear in clues, in the title (if any) or in other answers.
• portmanteau: A word formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two different words,
  e.g., affluenza, alphanumeric, Bollywood, brainiac, Brexit, bromance, brunch
• eponym: one for whom or which something is or is believed to be named
  e.g., America, Caesar salad, zipper, cardigan, kleenex, xerox, bandaid
• Also know what you (usually) will not find: profanity, sad or disturbing topics,
  or overly explicit answers -- the so-called "breakfast test".
• Read a lot; learn vocabulary, (vowel-heavy) 'repeaters' (e.g., area, aria, oreo),
  and 'crosswordese' ("words frequently found in crossword puzzles but seldom found
  in everyday conversation" but usually rarer in 'better' puzzles) -- by osmosis from puzzles or from lists.
• Try quizzes / flashcards, e.g., XWord Info Bar Game: Try to guess the answer as quickly as possible.
  Clues and answers are selected at random (from NYT). Some are easy, some are hard, some are fair, some are not.
• Being good at Scrabble helps for 'official' words, but crosswords can includes phrases,
  made-up words/spellings (often puns), words from other languages, and letter sequences.
• "Why would crossword puzzle developers include pop phrases or expressions
  for the puzzle? Historically, they’ve been focused on single words, right?
  Crosswords have indeed evolved throughout history. Each editor of the
  New York Times Crossword has had influence over puzzle conventions and what
  was deemed acceptable. The first editor, Margaret Farrar, for instance, was
  responsible for many of the conventions we use today, such as symmetrical grids
  and the concept of a crossword theme. When Will Shortz was hired in 1993, he
  wanted to 'bring in young contributors, fresher themes and more modern vocabulary,'
  he recalled in an interview last month. He was the first to allow familiar brand
  names in puzzles, and he helped popularize the use of longer, spoken phrases
  in fill. However, he was hardly the first to use multiword phrases -- in fact,
  puzzles as early as the 1950s had them. In 1951, the New York Times Crossword
  ran the entries TEA PARTY, SIDE STREET and DREAM MAN.
  
  As crossword puzzles become more popular and accessible, there is an even greater
  effort for the entries to feel “fresh.” With only so many words in the dictionary,
  puzzles would end up repetitive and dull with only single word answers. As editors,
  when we review puzzles, we don’t only allow multiword phrases; we actively encourage
  puzzles that feature fun phrases and interesting expressions. We generally consider
  phrases to be more colorful and interesting and to have more cluing potential than
  long one-word entries." ~Christina Iverson; NYT Easy Mode newsletter, 12/22/2023
• "Why does it seem as if every puzzle includes ESAI Morales?
  What did crossword constructors do before he started acting? The typical themed
  crossword puzzle in a 15x15 grid has four or five long entries going across the grid,
  with black squares breaking up the rest of the grid into smaller sections that are
  mostly made up of four- and five-letter words. We like to see a couple of long entries
  running down as well, but the majority of the grid will consist of relatively short words.
  
  The truth is, there aren’t that many familiar four- or five-letter words, and not all
  of them have convenient letter patterns. We tend to see a lot of the same words
  repeated in crosswords; some of them don’t stand out as much, because we see them
  in our everyday lives as well. ERA, AREA, ONE, ORE, ATE, and ARE are all among the
  top 10 most frequent New York Times crossword entries.
  
  Names like ESAI, ELI and ESAU, on the other hand, pop out because we see them more
  in crosswords than we do outside them. These are especially convenient because they
  are vowel-heavy, and because they end in I’s and U’s, which is fairly uncommon in
  English. If a word along the bottom edge of a grid has an I or a U in it, there are
  pretty limited options for what word can cross it. ESAI to the rescue! Because ESAI
  isn’t an especially common name, it has always been clued as referring to the actor in
  the NYT Crossword." ~Christina Iverson; NYT Easy Mode newsletter, 3/15/2024
• "Why do New York Times Crossword puzzles contain so many French words?
  It's true that French appears a lot! One very practical reason is that the
  French words that have traditionally appeared are vowel-heavy and contain
  crossword-friendly letters, so they have ended up as mainstays, and thus have
  made their way into the dictionaries that constructors use when creating their grids.
  French words like ETRE, EAU and ETE have very useful letters, so they show up a lot.
  Other words that show up frequently: ESTA and ELLA (Spanish), ANNO (Latin),
  ORA (Italian) and HAI (Japanese).
  
  Constructing crossword puzzles that are fun to solve for a wide range of people
  is a bit of a balancing act. Some people think every entry in a crossword should
  be just one English word, but realistically there are only so many interesting
  grids you could make using only single words. The crossword allows for phrases,
  proper nouns and some non-English words because it makes it easier to create
  more varied puzzles. But going too far and allowing arbitrary phrases, any and
  every name, and every word in every language would make it hard for anyone to
  solve a puzzle. Editors are always trying to decide what we can reasonably expect
  people to know, or infer — or even what is worth learning -- if it's not common knowledge.
  
  When we clue words that call for knowledge beyond, say, what one might find in
  the first couple of weeks of a language intro course, we prefer that there be
  something especially inferable about the meaning. That might be because the
  word shares a root with an English word, or because the word is part of a place name.
  For instance, we have clued NAM as 'South, in Hanoi,' because the word can be found
  within “Vietnam,” which serves as an extra little hint. Similarly, we've clued
  MAHAL as 'Palace, in Hindi,' and SIERRA as'Mountain range, in Spanish.'"
  ~Christina Iverson, Easy Mode newsletter, 4/5/2024
• "Why do some answers have a habit of reappearing?
  People often think that the editors are specifically timing puzzles to run the
  same entry a few times in a short span of time. In reality, such repeated
  instances are purely coincidental. In the average week of puzzles, we run
  about 585 entries across the seven grids. It would be impossible for us to
  schedule puzzles based on entries that already appeared. That said, we will
  take care not to run the exact same long phrase in a themeless puzzle within
  a short time, which is much more noticeable than a short entry.
  
  This question makes me think of the classic 'birthday problem' in probability.
  If you have a group of 23 people, there is more than a 50 percent chance that
  two of them will share a birthday. This number might seem surprising, until
  you consider that it could be any two people among these 23; there are 253
  possible pairs you can make with these 23 people. That’s more than half of
  the days in the year. By the same reasoning, with 585 words appearing in
  a week, there are 170,820 possible pairs of words. Of course, the crossword
  also uses proper nouns and phrases, but you can imagine that it would be quite
  unusual for a week’s worth of puzzles to not have a single word used twice."
  ~Christina Iverson, Easy Mode newsletter, 3/29/2024

Quotes

• "Just like peanut butter, puzzles can be smooth or crunchy! Crunchy puzzles are chock-full
  of tough vocabulary, full names, and fresh phrases that have never been seen in crosswords.
  ~Christina Iverson in NYT Wordplay newsletter.
• "And there's word-choice rules... You can't use -- usually -- bodily functions in puzzles,
  you know. 'Urine' would bail me out of a corner, I mean, a million times a year.
  Same with 'enema.' 'Enema' -- talk about great letters." ~Merl Reagle
• "crosswordese:... the jargon of crossword puzzle answers, classically consisting of rare,
  archaic, or dialectal words" ~Wiktionary
• OREO is sometimes called the pseudo-official cookie of the crossword puzzle...
  because its vowels help the constructor with ease of crossing words;
  also because it's black and white -- and from the same decade
• clue: "Mountain: Prefix or Comb. form";
  ans:...OREO; common clue in "pre-Shortz era", i.e., before 1993
• Nobody should ever let me have three wishes... because I'd blow at least one on
  "always knowing whether the answer to the four-letter crossword clue ‘swear' is ‘aver' or ‘avow'."

• 
  

  "AOC is maybe the first politician since LBJ... with an iconic three-initial nickname,
  which is good news for her career but especially for crossword editors." ~Ken Jennings

• Apparently, everybody's mad at Qatar now,... except crossword puzzle enthusiasts.
• "Brand names -- you can credit me for that innovation." ~Will Shortz
• "The most common word in New York Times crosswords is... 'era'
  -- which appears in about 7% of all puzzles." ~Will Shortz
• "Words fascinate me... They always have.
  For me, browsing in a dictionary is like being turned loose in a bank." ~Eddie Cantor
• "I don't use simple words...I make games and puzzles with my songs." ~Lisa Loeb
• "Crossword Fan: I've been trying to think of a word for two weeks!...
  Friend: How about a fortnight?"
• "In hosts of minds, today, are impressions that the word 'eerie'...
  means nothing except convenience to makers of crossword puzzles.
  There are gulfs of the unaccountable, but they are bridged by terminology." ~Charles Fort
• "Leo (President's Chief of Staff): Margaret. Please call the editor of the New York Times crossword... and
  tell him that Khaddafi is spelled with an h, and two d's, and isn't a seven letter word for anything.
  Leo [on phone]: 17 across. Yes, 17 across is wrong... You're spelling his name wrong...
  What's my name? My name doesn't matter. I am just an ordinary citizen who relies on the Times crossword
  for stimulation. And I'm telling you that I met the man twice. And I recommended a pre-emptive
  Exocet missile strike against his air force, so I think I know how.
  Leo: [looking at the phone, then hanging up] They hang up on me every time." ~West Wing (Pilot)
• "A guy doing a crossword in a pub... turns to his pal and says 'how do you spell paint'?
  His mate thinks for a second and replies 'what colour'?"
• "'Speak English!' said the Eaglet. 'I don't know the meaning of half those long words,
  and I don't believe you do either!'" ~Alice (in Wonderland)

Muses, Patron Saints and Superheroes

• You may encounter entries or clues in crosswords that mention Greek muses (Wikipedia) (goddesses)
  for arts or sciences, e.g., Erato (love poetry), Clio (history), Urania (astronomy); Greek Mythology
• You may also find entries/clues that involve patron saints (Wikipedia) for traditional/academic
  occupations and activities; also: Catholic Saints A-Z
• You may also see entries/clues involving Superheroes (Wikipedia) and their powers,
  which seem mostly physical/sensory rather than mental; also: powers; powers and abilities
• Inquiring minds might wonder who might be the muse, patron saint and/or superhero (if any)
  for crossword solvers and/or constructors -- or perhaps puzzles, games, words or problem solving in general?
  (there are no official ones that I'm aware of)
• Some possible Muses for crosswords:
• Erato: "poetry" -- crosswords might be considered an unusual form of poetry (word patterns)
• Melete: "practice" -- crosswords require a lot of practice
• Thalia: "comedy and pastoral poetry" -- wordplay and words
• Mnemosyne: "memory"; also parent w/ Zeus of all the muses? -- crosswords certainly require memory
• My choices: Mnemosyne or Thalia
• Some possible Patron Saints for crosswords:
• Teresa of Avila: "lace workers, chess" -- patterns, games?
• Thomas Aquinas: "students, teachers, academics"
• Lawrence: "librarians, archivists, students, comedians" -- organizing; word play?
• Albertus Magnus: "philosophers, scientists, students"
• Catherine of Alexandria: "librarians, students, philosophers"
• Isidore of Seville: "computer scientists/programmers/users, students" -- and proposed for "Internet"
• Margaret Farrar Simon&Schcuster, rules, 1st NYT crossword editor
• My choices: Teresa, Lawrence, Isidore or Margaret (if she were to be canonized)
• Some possible Superheroes/villains for crosswords:
• The Riddler
• (lesser known) superheroes with enhanced intelligence / intuition?
• My choice: Riddler
• Your nominations?

References

• also see Refs: Animals; Characters / Names; Dictionaries; Geography;
  What/Who the Heck is That?; Languages; OREO; Crosswordese
• some topics/categories: acronyms, American universities, animals,
  baseball, Bible, birds, 'Breakfast test', Chinese dynasties,
  collective nouns, counties, dogs, European rivers, college exams,
  Greek letters, Greek mythology, monograms, opera, sports names,
  Spanish, Star Wars, US govt. orgs, Yiddish
• Spectacular Vernacular
  podcast that explores language...and plays with it; some related to puzzles and crosswords; Slate
• CrosswordSolver.com: word lists
  words starting with..., words ending with..., words with infrequent letters, different word lengths
• How Gen Z Made the Crossword Their Own
  a younger generation of constructors is using an old form to reflect
  their identities, language and world; NYT; 4/13/2024
• The Gen Z Crossword Era
  solving a crossword puzzle today feels more like a spirited
  conversation with modern culture; NYT; 4/13/2024
• Why does Idris Elba always turn up in crossword clues? One veteran puzzle editor provides the answer and many more 11/2/2023
• Crosswords as a Dynamic Tool for Vocabulary Building and Language Acquisition 10/3/2023
• Why You Like the Sound of 'Barbenheimer' what makes a good portmanteau? NYT; 8/7/2023
• The Unspoken Language of Crosswords Atl; 8/6/2023
• Linguistic Siblings: 9 Pairs of Words With Surprisingly Shared Etymologies MF; 6/28/2023
• Leg Booty? Panoramic? Seggs? How TikTok Is Changing Language NYT; 11/21/2022
• Why crossword puzzles have become my safe space as a Black man 3/26/2022
• Words Full of Sound and Fury
  grandiloquent colloquialisms, fanciful words; NYT; 2/14/2022
• What Makes a Word 'Proper English'?
  the internet and social media have sped up the ways slang terms
  are popularized among mainstream audiences; NYT; 11/16/2021
• Smurf, Nerf, Buff, and More Old Words With New Meanings You Should Know LH; 10/21/2021
• Crosswords as Pop Culture Shorthand? PN; 10/5/2021
• Things Are About to Get Cheesy In Here DB; 6/3/2021
• For crossword constructors, an inclusivity debate:
  What's 'common knowledge' and who decides? WaPo; 3/11/2021
• Montreal newspaper apologizes for N-word answer to crossword clue 2/16/2021
• How (Chemical) Elements Get Added to Crosswords 1/18/2021
• The New Words for Our New Misery doomscrolling, mask-hole, Zoom fatigue, Quarantini,
  covidiot, travel-shaming, You're on mute -- and more from the pandemic lexicon; NYT; 12/24/2020
• Names in Crosswords
  1. Who's in the Crossword? Representation in Major Crosswords:
  Ratio of men vs. women and non-Hispanic whites vs. minoritized racial groups
  found in clues and answers of major crossword publications;
  2. Modernizing old namesl 3. Redefining "common knowledge"; Pudding; 11/2020
• Oxford's 2020 Word of the Year? It’s Too Hard to Isolate NYT; 11/22/2020
• The Delicious World of Food Clues in Crosswords DB; 11/9/2020
• How Brand Names Worked Their Way Into Crosswords DB; 11/2/2020
• What Nicki Minaj, Emoji, and Iraq Have In Common on the Puzzle Grid
  unexpected ending letters, e.g., IMPROV, AVENUEQ, MARYJ, EMOJI, REIKI; DB; 9/14/2020
• 1925 crossword requires vintage brain different vocabulary; 2/23/2019
• The Crossword Symphony: 12 Musical Terms And Solving Tips
  ADAGIO, A DUE, ARCO, ASSAI, A TEMPO, LARGO, LEGATO, LENTO, POCO, RIT,
  STAC, TACET; _ MAJOR/MINOR, _ SHARP/FLAT, IN _; NYT; 2/6/2019
• 20 Words Turning 100 in 2019 MF; 1/4/2019
• The word of the year: Stop! BG; 12/21/2018
• The Crossword Library: 11 Authors You Should Know NYT; 11/21/2018
• The Crossword Garage: 8 Car Makes and Models You Should Know NYT; 9/19/2018
• The Crossword Garden, Part Two: 8 Fruits and Vegetables You Should Know NYT; 8/15/2018
• 10 Words and Phrases You Won't Believe Are More Than 100 Years Old 8/10/2018
• The Crossword Garden, Part One: 10 Plants You Should Know "flowery language"; NYT; 7/18/2018
• 25 Words That Are Their Own Opposites 6/15/2018
• 50 Acronyms and Initialisms All Spelled Out 5/8/2018
• 9 Innocent Words with Surprisingly Naughty Origins
  gymnasium; mastodon; partridge; forlorn; musk; orchid; punk; porcelain; pasta alla puttanesca; 4/11/2018
• The Reference Section A collection of Wordplay's "topics you need to know" articles: Birds,
  Spanish, Greek Mythology, Baseball, Sports Names, European Rivers, Opera; NYT; 3/29/2018
• How Many 9-Letter Words Can You Make With Airport Codes?
  Perth + Chattanooga + Nice = PERCHANCE; 3/29/2018
• 10 Greek Mythological Characters to Help You Raise Your Crossword Game NYT; 12/26/2017
• 8 Opera Terms That Will Raise Your Crossword-Solving Game NYT; 7/19/2017
• 10 Sports Names That Will Help You Become a Better Crossword Solver NYT; 4/19/2017
• 10 Baseball Terms That Will Help You Become a Better Crossword Solver NYT; 4/1/2017
• Online English Vocabulary Size Test 7/12/2016
• 11 Old-Fashioned Words for Idiots MF; 6/21/2015
• 25 Words That Are Actually Acronyms 1/28/2015
• These Are The Longest Words In The English Language, And They're Insane
  most wouldn't fit in crosswords; Giz; 7/17/2014
• Ebola Invades 'The New York Times' Sunday Crossword
  crosswords tend to avoid unpleasant subjects like diseases -- but occasionally the names do
  slip in unavoidably: POLIO, MALARIA, EBOLA, SARS (not TB, MERS); NPR; 7/13/2014
• The history of AOL as told through New York Times crossword clues 12/6/2012
• (Sunday) Breakfast Test discussion ;-); any word is offensive to some audience? 4/25/2011
• Cruciverbal Cheat Sheets An Englishman Solves American Puzzles
• Pavlov's Guide to Crosswords 12/2009
• From Aaron to Zion Bible & Jewish refs; 1/2011
• Alphabet Soup US govt. orgs; 5/2010
• The Crucy League Amer. univ; 2/2009
• Cross Examinations LSAT, etc.; 2/2011
• Me Old China Chinese dynasties; 7/2011
• A Monograph on Monograms literary, presidents, others; 1/2011
• Become a Crossword Super Solver by Will Johnston Commonly used words;
  Finding the easy ones; Method of attack; Ambiguous fill; [.pdf; p3]; 1/19/2010
• Ask Will: "breakfast test" #7; NYT; 1/10/2010
• How to remember: Greek letters 3/2008; Roman numerals 4/2008; Abbrev. (Wikipedia)
• Roman numeral crosswords: easy; difficult "The World's Worst"
• Crossword Trivia and Trip-ups 3/11/2005
• Quiz: Could You Win the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament?
• HSW 5: Double-check Your Spelling (var.); Word Buff: 3. Learn the Repeaters
• about.com: 2. Check the 3-, 4- and 5-letter Words; 8. Multi-word Answers
• Wonder 8. Memorize Commonly Used Words
• A Drudge of Lexicographers Presents: Collective Nouns A Murder of Crows; An Exaltation of Larks;
  Geese, Ducks, Swans, and Their Location; A Melody of Harpers and a Poverty of Pipers
• The Most Complicated Word in English is Only Three Letters Long run: 645 different meanings
• Word Buff Word Lists: most frequent; common 3-,4-,5-letter answers; alphabets
• Wordsmith.org: the magic of words forums, email lists
• Crasswords: Dirty Crosswords for Cunning Linguists Francis Heane; book

Animals

• 50 Collective Nouns for Your Favorite Groups of Animals 7/26/2018
• The Crossword Zoo: 10 Animals You Should Know
  asp; eft; eland; elk; ewok; gnu; ibex; okapi; orca; tsetse; NYT; 4/12/2018
• These Words Are for the Birds: A Crossword Aviary NYT; 3/2/2018
• View a Clue Animals edition! PN; 2/5/2016
• View a Clue: Crossword Animals PN; 1/28/2016
• Cruciverbal Canines dogs; 9/2009
• 27 Hilarious (but Totally Real) Names for Groups of Animals

Characters / Names

• Dad 'gives his son most ridiculous name ever because he loves crossword puzzles'
  "ABCDEF GHIJK Zuzu" (nickname Adef); 10/26/2021
• View a Clue: Crossword Characters Answers! PN; 4/23/2020
• View a Clue: Crossword Characters PN; 4/10/2020
• The Griddy Awards, Part 2: 10 Male Actors You Should Know NYT; 8/7/2019
• Farewell, Rip Torn, Star of Stage, Screen, and Crossword Grids PN; 7/11/2019
• The Griddy Awards, Part 1: 10 Female Actors You Should Know
  EDIE; ELKE; GENA; MIRA; NIA; POLA; SELA; TERI; UMA; UTA; NYT; 5/8/2019
• Celebrity View a Clue edition! PN; 11/27/2015
• View a Clue: Crossword Celebrities PN; 11/17/2015
• Star Wars 101: Attack of the Clues Star Wars characters; 11/2011

Dictionaries

• The First 10 Words of the African American English Dictionary Are In NYT; 5/23/2023
• Merriam-Webster Adds 455 New Words to the Dictionary
  they range from "dad bod" to "fluffernutter"; 10/30/2021
• More Than 650 New Words Have Been Added to Dictionary.com --
  here Are 50 of Them MF; 9/21/2020
• Find Your Birthday Word With the Oxford English Dictionary's Birthday Word Generator
  find a word that began the same year you did; MF; 6/23/2019
• Expand Your Vocabulary With These New Words From Merriam-Webster LH; 4/23/2019
• 7 Fake Words That Ended Up in the Dictionary
  dord; abacot; morse; phantomnation; momblishness; cairbow; esquivalience; 10/29/2018
• 25 Words You Didn't Know Were in the Dictionary 10/15/2018
• If Printed Dictionaries Are History, What Will Children Sit on to Reach the Table?
  HUMANITIES, Fall 2018, Volume 39, Number 4
• 12 Things You Might Not Know About Dictionaries 10/16/2018
• Duck face, lolcat, and permadeath: new words added to OxfordDictionaries.com OED; 12/3/2014

Geography

• Yreka! How this North State city landed
  in the NYT Sunday crossword puzzle
  36D. What is the Northern California town once home
  to the Palindromic Bakery? 10/4/2021
• 85-Across: 'State capital on the Colorado River.' Six letters 10/2/2020
• How Geography on the Crossword Grid Can Teach You A Thing or Two DB; 9/7/2020
• The Crossword Travel Guide: 10 Cities You Should Know
  ACCRA, AGRA, AMES, ARLES, ESSEN, ODESSA, OREM, OSLO, RENO, RIGA; NYT; 11/13/2019
• The New Capital of European Crosswords? PN; 10/11/2019
• 12 European Rivers That Will Help You Raise Your Crossword Game NYT; 7/12/2017
• Crucial Counties 5/2011

NYT: What/Who the Heck Is That? The Crossword Stumper

• ABEAM; ABO; ABOU; ADUBA; AFB; AGITA; AHN; AKINS; ALAIN;
  ALPH; ALT; AMARO; AMOS; AMPERE; ANYA; ARS; ASCH; AT BAT;
  AUBADE; AVEO; AY CARAMBA; AZO
• BABAS; BCC; BILES; BINGE WATCH; BOFFO; BUCK
• CALVINBALL; CAPTCHA; CASCA; CGI; COATI; CRIT; CYD
• DE NOVO; DECKLE; DHS; DRAGSHOW
• EARLE; ELBERT; ELO; EMO; ERATO; ERIS; ERL; EST; EVE CURIE
• FARAD; FATHA; FIAT
• GABON; GROK
• HORAE
• IAGO, IAGO (2); IDAS; ILO; ILYA; IMARET; INIGO;
  IONA, IONA; IQs; IROC; ISAO; ISUZU; IVES
• L-DOPA; LATINX; LEGATO; LGBT; LLANO
• MAGE; MATCHA; MERL; MOA; MOAI; MOTET; MOTO
• NEAL; NEMEAN; NENE NYT entry a total of 295 times since 1944; NIOBE; NOH
• OCHOA; OCHS; ODAY; ODEON; OED; OLLA; ONAGER;
  OP ART; ORC; ORINOCO; OYEZ
• PENSIEVE; PEWEE; PIPS; POGS
• RAE; REBUS; RECTO; RHETT; RIIS; ROTI; RPI; RUPIAHS
• S AND P; SABRA; SAZERAC; SHIM; SHMOO; SKRILLEX; SKUA;
  SONGZ; SPANG; STARCRAFT; STAUB; STEAGALL; STOP-TIME; SWOLE
• TABOR; TAU; THEA; TO BED; TORII; TOTES; TREY; TRY
• UNIX; USMA; USO; UTNE; UVEA
• WIZ
• XFL
• ZEBU

Languages

• 12 Words With Very Different Meanings in the U.S. and the UK MF; 7/24/2020
• 9 Words That Were Borrowed From One Language, Transformed, Then Borrowed Back MF; 10/23/2019
• 14 Latin Words and Phrases for the Modern World
  new Latin words/phrases for decidedly modern things; MF; 8/28/2019
• NYT crossword editor apologizes after derogatory Hispanic slur appears in puzzle BEANER; 1/3/2019
• The Future of Crosswords: Multilingual Grids? PN; 8/16/2018
• 15 French Words That Will Raise Your Crossword Game ÉTAT, ÉTÉ; NYT; 5/30/2018
• 10 Spanish Words That Will Raise Your Crossword Game
  do you know your ESA from your ESTA? NYT; 2/15/2018
• 10 Scifi Curse Words for All Occasions
  frak, petaQ, grozit; frell, cruk, shazbot, sithspit, kriff, gorram, smeg; Giz; 2/28/2017
• Puzzles Schmuzzles Yiddish & Hebrew; 9/2011
• Espanol para los crucigramistas 1/2009
• HSW 2: Pay Attention to Foreign-language Answers

OREO

• crossword puzzle clues with the answer OREO: xwordinfo, crosswordtracker, wordplays
• see: 1912: OREO history / articles, beer & oreos
• March 6: Oreo Day
• Oreos and the Art of Crossword Puzzle Construction
  an investigation into 2020's most notorious crossword puzzle clue, told at three levels of complexity; 1/2021
• Why Does Oreo Keep Releasing New Flavors? Oreo has introduced 65 flavors since
  Birthday Cake Oreo in 2012; the new flavors function as advertisements for the original; NYT; 12/16/2020
• Lady Gaga Is Getting Her Own Oreos 12/2/2020
• Mustard on Oreos? A Crossword Clue Is Causing Confusion Among Cookie Fans
  USA Today (2/12); 2/14/2020
• What Is an Oreo Cookie's "Creme" Filling Made Of? MF; 3/12/2019
• 8 Discontinued Oreo Flavors MF; 3/6/2019
• Winter Is Coming -- and So Are Game of Thrones Oreo Cookies MF; 2/26/2019
• Oreo Has Introduced Wasabi and Hot Chicken Wing Flavored Cookies in China; 9/3/2018
• LA Times: Me Eat Cookie 10/6/2016
• LA Times: Got Milk? 7/8/2012
• Reagle: Crunch Time latcrossword, crosswordkathy 97th anniversary, featuring OREO; 12/19/2010
• Puzzle Makers Exchange Cross Words 'oreo war': old school constructors insist that if the puzzle
  demands the four letters o-r-e-o, then the clue should be 'mountain: prefix,' as in 'oreortyx,'
  or mountain quail. The new wave believes that if ''Oreo'' is the answer, 'cookie' should be
  the clue; NYT; 8/10/1988

Crosswordese

• Puzzle Nation various posts (most below)
• Poems with crosswordese: An ODE to Crosswordese;
  Crosswordese: Now with Rhythm!
• Crosswordese Selfies
• vocabulary.com: crosswordese
• A Day in the Life of a Crossword Editor Reddit; 12/1/2022
• The Hunt for New Crossword-Friendly Vocabulary PN; 9/4/2020
• The Fun Side of Crosswordese PN; 7/28/2020
• Let’s Play Crossword Bingo! PN; 7/2/2020
• An Ode to Crosswordese puzzle & ode; PN; 10/25/2019
• How the Tiny Village of Aa Became Estonia's New 'National Capital.' Sort of.
  A puzzle magazine called Nuti asked readers to vote on their favorite crosswordese; NYT; 9/29/2019
• 13 Words That Will Help You Solve Almost Any Crossword Puzzle
  EPEE, AGA, OREO, AREA, ERIE, ALEE, ELAND, OLEO, EIDER, ETUI, ENO, SMEE, OTT; RD; 1/10/2019
• 10 Common Crossword Puzzle Words You Should Know 12/25/2017
• How Well Do You Know Your 'Crosswordese?' quiz; NYT; 11/28/2017
• Crosswordese: Now with Rhythm! PN; 7/25/2017
• Crossing swords with crosswordese! PN; 7/28/2015
• Puzzle #101 -- Introduction to Crosswordese .pdf, .puz; 8/15/2014
• A 12-letter word for puzzly frustration
  "words that crop up a lot but are otherwise pretty useless;" 8/20/2013
• Crosswordese: pre-Shortz 10/15/2012
• Some pissants have put me in 'Twilight Zone' Varble; MT; 8/19/2012
• The Shortz List of Crossword Celebrities URI; YMA; OTT; ESAI; ERTE; RAE; ERLE; Slate; 1/27/2012
• Crosswordese 101 Summary LA Times; 2/20/2011
• Playing in the Word Farm 11/3/2010
• The Myth of Crosswordese 3/20/2010
• Farewell, etui the changing language of crosswords; 2/15/2009
• My Crossword Life 3/3/2008
• Crosswordese Poetry 2/10/2008
• NYT CrossWorld Pantheon: A Hall of Fame for Crossword fill 11/22/2006
• Across or Down... Alito Fills the Bill Elena (Kagan) also popular; 10/2005
• Talking Crosswordese Blues 3/13/2005
• Partying with all the gnus that fit Varble; [.pdf]; MT
• Puzzlers Exchanging A Lot Of Cross Words Maleska vs. 'new wave' constructors; 3/20/1988
• Wikipedia: frequently used examples
• about.com; visualthesaurus
• Word Buff: A Crash Course In Crosswordese; 30 Crossword Answers You MUST Learn
• Crosswordese: word-of-the-day
• Crosswordese Quizzes, Flashcards: =70; =100; =116; =54; =24; =116

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Summary | Quotes |
Interactive Examples | Clue Examples | Annotated NYT Example |
References

---

Summary

• The format/syntax of the clue is often as important as its content.
• Part of speech -- noun: singular/plural; adjective; adverb;
  verb tense: present, past, infinitive, gerund;
  -- in clue will usually be mirrored in the answer.
• Are you sure about part of speech?
  e.g., clue: "Red cards" could be a verb (ans: ejects) or a noun (ans: hearts)
• First name of an actor/author mirrors first name of role/character; ditto for last name.
• Is first letter of clue capitalized because it's first word or because it's a proper noun? (a 'veiled capital')
• Abbrev. or ACRONYM or other letter sequence in clue will usually be reflected in answer.
• Language of the answer often indicated by language of clue, e.g., French, Spanish, Latin,
  or inhabitant's name, e.g., Pierre, Juanita, Caesar,
  or place name, e.g., Riviera, Guanajuato, ancient Rome
• "___" in a phrase: FITB (Fill in the Blank)
• Expect ambiguity and humor -- and exceptions to 'rules'.
• "?" may indicate esp. tricky, non-obvious answer from an unexpected context
• ? might be omitted in crosswords that are expected to be more difficult in general, e.g., later in the week
• "Let's look at 4 examples of when we would use a question mark in a clue:
  1. Clue: "'The meeting hasn’t started yet, has it?'" Answer: AM I LATE?
  The question mark in this case simply indicates that the answer itself should be read
  as a question. Clues in quotation marks generally mean that the answer will be a
  spoken phrase, and in this case, it's a spoken question.
  
  If the question mark is not part of a quotation, it is there to indicate that there's some
  kind of wordplay. A question mark is like a little elbow nudge.
  
  2. Clue: "Cool-sounding body part?" Answer: HIP
  This is an early-week question mark clue. There's nothing particularly misleading;
  the question mark is here to signal that this clue is just plain goofy.
  
  3. Clue: "Took on a pet project?" Answer: CAT SAT
  The question mark here indicates that you should look out for wordplay, and it's
  a little more misleading than in the previous example, because "pet project" is
  an idiom that typically doesn't involve cat sitting.
  
  4. Clue: "Does the rite thing?" Answer: ANOINTS
  This is another pretty silly clue, and the humor is in reading the clue out loud. No one will
  be fooled into thinking the clue is asking for something that means 'doing the right thing.'
  The question mark indicates that the clue is playing off a familiar phrase, in this case
  with a homophone." ~Christina Iverson, NYT Wordplay newsletter; 11/24/2023
• "There are different types of themes, and they generally get trickier as the week continues.
  On Monday, it’s rare to see question mark clues in the theme, except for in the revealer,
  which might be a punny descriptor of the rest of the theme answers. For instance, in a recent
  Monday puzzle, each theme entry had the circled letters I, C, U and T, which gradually got
  closer together. The clues for these entries were straightforward, but the revealer was a goofy hint:
  '... what you gradually do with this puzzle's circled letters?' The question mark lets you know
  that this is a joke, and that you should interpret the answer CONNECTICUT in a goofy way --
  you're connecting the letters I-C-U-T.
  
  Non-thematic clues will still hint at the actual meaning of the words in the grid, but the clues
  might be interpreted in a surprising way. In themes, though, the wordplay can take all sorts
  of goofy twists. Some themes involve reinterpreting common phrases as if they mean
  something completely different, as with this puzzle, which imagines a THREE-WAY TIE a
  neckwear for a trio. Or you’ll have to parse phrases differently, perhaps imagining
  there's an extra space or a missing space; in this puzzle, we have to parse “Partner in crime”
  as 'Partnerin' crime' — 'Bigamy, legally speakin’?' Themes could also have completely made-up
  phrases; maybe the same letter(s) are added to (or deleted from) common phrases to make
  goofy new ones; maybe a common phrase will use a homophone of one of the words instead
  of the usual one. For any wordplay like this, the same gimmick will be used throughout the
  puzzle in a consistent way so that once you understand the trick, you can deduce more
  theme entries." ~Christina Iverson, Wordplay newsletter; 12/1/2023
• "How to interpret a clue that ends with the word 'say'?
  Crossword constructors and editors like to keep clues varied.
  A puzzle would be boring if every clue were pulled from a
  dictionary or a thesaurus. However, if a constructor writes
  an overly specific clue, a solver can become confused.
  For instance, if the clue for AGE were 'Sit in a cellar,'
  a solver could rightfully say, 'Not necessarily!'
  
  'Say,' 'perhaps' and 'maybe' are all words that constructors
  or editors tack onto a clue to indicate that the clue isn’t
  necessarily a one-to-one synonym. 'Perhaps' and 'maybe' might
  be seen as a little more weaselly than “say,” but there are
  many occasions when any of the three will do. We call these
  words 'tags,' a label we also apply to indicators like
  'for short,' 'for example' and 'casually.
  
  Here are a couple of examples:
  For RATE, the clue 'Give stars, say' works because someone
  could rate something without necessarily giving it stars.
  
  For ALE, the clue 'Bartender’s serving, perhaps' makes sense because
  not all ale is from a bar and not all drinks at a bar are ale.
  
  For YOLO, the clue 'Exclamation before an ill-advised action, maybe'
  is similar to the above case in that not everything someone does after
  saying YOLO is ill advised." ~Christina Iverson, Easy Mode newsletter, 2/9/2024
• "When Will Shortz was hired as crossword editor of The NYT in 1993,
  he made waves by cluing the entry OREO as 'Cream-filled sandwich.'
  Until then, it had always been clued as 'Mountain: Comb. form.'
  In the last 30 years, Mr. Shortz has worked on making clues more
  relevant to the average solver. More recently, especially since 2020,
  people of all ages, races, genders and backgrounds have been making
  puzzles, and their voices are evident. Clues are changing as well --
  they feel less stuffy than they used to, and generally more approachable.
  
  As our editorial team grows, we’re also starting to call into question
  some of the more formal conventions of crossword cluing. We’re beginning
  to favor language like 'Cat, in Spanish' over 'Cat: Sp.' We still want
  solvers to grapple with challenging puzzles, but we’d rather have the
  difficulty come from clever wordplay than from obscure trivia and
  potentially confusing wording." ~Christina Iverson, Easy Mode newsletter, 3/8/2024
• "*" often suggests a theme answer -- look for commonalities between other *-entries;
  the center or last theme clue might "explain" the theme (aka 'the reveal / payoff');
  next section: Themes
• A blank clue (or "-") -- it depends, e.g., reuse a neighboring clue
• 'Cousin', 'relative' or 'partner' often indicates something in same category.
• Occasionally both a constructor and an editor might miss a mistake.
• Clue difficulty can vary by day of week, e.g., BACON (from Quigley):
  Mon: "Strips with fried eggs"
  Wed: "Sir Francis"
  Sat: "Strips in a club"
• e.g., STRAP:
  Mon: "Subway rider's handhold"
  Wed: "Part of a bike helmet"
  Sat: "What might keep a watch on you"
• ACPT division examples: A (advanced), B (intermediate), C (beginner), from Romano:
  1D: FIEDLER
  A. Boston leader for half a century
  B. Longtime Boston pops leader
  C. Conductor Arthur
  
  19A: DESERTBLOOM
  A. Symbol of beauty in harsh conditions
  B. 1986 coming-of-age movie set in Las Vegas
  C. Cactus flower
  
  30A: DANDELION
  A. Plant named for the teeth of a big cat
  B. Kind of wine
  C. Yard nuisance
• The puzzle editor may prefer certain definitions, e.g., OREO
  pre-Shortz era (< 1993): prefix for mountain -- as in “oreortyx,” a mountain quail
  Shortz era: creme-filled cookie -- and many variations, esp. for day of week
• The year of the puzzle may suggest what slang and pop culture references were possible;
  also a country's currency, e.g., before or after EU
• Is date of puzzle on/near a holiday/event/anniversary?
• Be prepared to think both literally and metaphorically
  -- and outside the box(es):
• The 'meaning' of a clue may not be a definition, but literally the name or sound of a clue letter,
  e.g., "Head of cattle?" = HARD C;
  "Carriage part?" = SILENT I;
  or a letter sequence, e.g., "RV center" = STU
• A clue might "break the 4th wall" and refer to the solver,
  e.g., using pen or ink, looking up hints
• Some clues might be modified by theme to make sense, e.g., Univ, 1/10/2021
  23A. Cement made with 2.5% copper = COPPER PENNY
  32A. Theme present = THIS DAY AND AGE
  51A. Painfully meshy chaps, perhaps = SHRINKING VIOLETS
  68A. Firmest lights = DAYBREAKS
  70A. Amexes used by some Native Americans = TOMAHAWKS
  87A. Romeo's friend = CHRISTOPHER ROBIN
  104A.They circle a games giant = RINGS OF SATURN
  121A. "Pretend I'm not here" -- and a hint to the two extra letters in each starred clue = JUST IGNORE ME
• An answer square might contain more than 1 letter, e.g., rebus (next section: Themes)
• A block (dark square) might stand for an 'empty' word in a phrase, e.g., "BOX", "BLOCK", "HOLE"
• Online tool, e.g., crosswordgiant.com: enter a clue to find possible answers;
  or enter an answer (or pattern) to find possible clues
• For UK cryptics (described earlier: Solving: Choose Difficulty), clues are quite different:
  e.g., New Yorker interactive Cryptic clue guide Anagram, Hidden Word, Homophone, Double Definition,
  Assemblage (Charade), Deletion, Reversal, Container, Bits and Pieces, Multiple

Quotes

• "Learn the rules... so you know how to break them properly." ~Dalai Lama
• "Brevity is the soul of wit." ~Hamlet...
  "I think that applies to crossword clues as well." ~Will Shortz
• "We don't see things as they are... we see things as we are." ~Anais Nin
• Apparently the Obamas got a 2nd dog named Sunny...
  I learned this via a very frustrating crossword clue which was much too long for "Bo."
• My wife was solving the crossword in today's newspaper.
  She asked, "A beverage, 3 letters and begins with T?"... I said, "Tea?"
  "Yes the first letter is T what are the other ones ?"
• "What's another word for an overloaded mailman? 16 Across".
  "How many letters?", she replies... "Thousands I'd imagine."
• He asks his wife across the table:
  "What is a four letter word for a religious song?"
  Wife: "Hymn"...Man: "Yeah it's a tricky one"
• "Place to write letters" or "Utterance from a curmudgeon"= CROSSWORD [NYT 1990; CSM 2008]
• "Putting letters in boxes?"= SOLVING [LAT 2005]
• "This is not a clue... or is it?" ~Bart Simpson

Interactive Examples

• How to Solve The New York Times Crossword main article/tutorial; NYT; 11/2017
  NYT sections, puzzle examples:
• Fill-in-the-Blanks ('gimmes'): mini
• Tense: mini
• Part of Speech: mini
• Plural: mini
• Foreign Language: mini
• Partner Clues: mini
• Cross Referenced: mini
• Abbreviations: mini
• Clues with a "?": mini
• Slang: mini
• "Quotes" and [Brackets]: mini
• Veiled Capitals: mini
• Heteronyms
• NYT: Some common clue patterns and how to answer them sections, puzzle examples:
• 1. Clue/Answer Agreement: mini, full
• 2. Question Mark Clues: mini, full
• 3. Crosswordese: mini, full
• 4. Themes: mini, full
• 5. Rebus Answers: mini, full

Some Interesting Clues I've Collected

• reference to letters/sounds.
  RV Center(3)= STU;
  Head of cattle?(5)= HARD C;
  Carriage part?(7)= SILENT I;
  Workweek sequence: Abbr.(5)= MTWTF;
  Alphabetic pentad(5)= AEIOU;
  Queue after Q(3)= RST;
  Tic-tac-toe win(3)= OOO
• music. keys: 'A-G' [MAJOR | MINOR];
  Like Bach's second violin concerto(3)= IN E;
  A flat equivalent(6)= G SHARP;
  It's probably played first(5)= SIDE A;
  Score keeper?(10)= MUSIC STAND
• people. Happy cohort?(6)= SNEEZY; Bird, e.g., once(4)= CELT
• directions: U-turn from WNW(3)= ESE; Needle point?(3)= ENE
• 'Stop! You've got it all wrong!'(6)= NO NO NO
• Lion's home(7)= DETROIT
• Last picture in an alphabet book(5)= ZEBRA
• Response to a general question?(5)= NO SIR
• Stirring time?(7)= SUNRISE
• Something played out in a theater(3)= WAR
• Waiting for Godot?(6)= INLINE
• Sodium hydroxide, briefly(4)= NAOH
• Rapids transit(5)= CANOE
• It'll never fly?(3)= EMU
• Do nothing at a bakery?(4)= LOAF
• Highland?(5)= NEPAL
• Departure info?(4)= OBIT
• Stayed out?(5)= SLEPT
• Gambler's opening(4)= SLOT
• Iron-deficient?(7)= CREASED
• Polar opposites?(13)= NAUGHTY OR NICE
• Cold capital(4)= OSLO
• Pique condition?(3)= IRE
• literal references to patterns in grid, direction of clue (ACROSS | DOWN)
• Time before the present day?(12)= CHRISTMAS EVE
• #10 on a table(4)= NEON
• Flat sign(5)= TO LET
• Where cells are of little use(9)= DEAD SPOTS
• Something you can bank on(9)= POOL TABLE
• It may have you in an awkward position(9)= YOGA CLASS
• Definitely not a company man?(6)= HERMIT
• Rolling stone?(4)= LAVA
• Secretive group?(6)= GLANDS
• Army heads(8)= LATRINES
• Can of Newcastle(3)= LOO; John, to Paul, George or Ringo(3)= LOO
• Low tie(6)= ONEALL; Low score(6)= ONENIL
• Complex people?(7)= TENANTS
• Oh golly, a molding(4)= OGEE
• M.A seeker's test(3)= GRE
• Crossword quitter's cry?(15)= IDONHOTHEANSWER (embedded name); Reagle: Full-Name Game
• Geometric suffix(3)= OID
• French, e.g.,
  Three, in Tours(3)= TRE;
  Part of l'ete?(4)= AOUT;
  Stop on the Metro?(5)= ARRET;
  Like many squares in a French crossword(5)= BLANC;
  Security Council veto(3)= NON;
  Feu fighter(3)= EAU
• Spanish:
  New Mexican(4)= NENE;
  Enero begins it(3)= ANO;
  Mayo is in it(3)= ANO;
  "Keep them coming, Juan!"(3)= MAS;
  Spanish she-bear(3)= OSA;
  Bit of change in Cuba(7)= CENTAVO
• Latin/Roman:
  Uncommon in ancient Rome(4)= RARA;
  One quarter of M(3)= CCL;
  Nvmber of bones in the human body(4)= CCVI;
  When Othello kills himself(4)= ACT V;
  ans: CBVIIINGNEWS(8)= VII: SEVEN (embedded Roman numerals) => CBS EVENING NEWS

An Annotated NYT Example

• NYT 1/23/2011 puzzle(blank): [.pdf]; solution: [.pdf] neat, [.pdf] handwritten
• FITB (Fill In The Blank): 32-A, 36-A, 79-A, 85-A (!), 97-A, 128-A, 2-D, 9-D, 11-D, 41-D, 87-D, 95-D*, 121-D
• first name: 1-A, 39-A, 65-A, 67-A, 96-A, 101-A, 118-A, 8-D, 66-D ('familiarly'), 116-D
• last name: 24-A, 89-A, 5-D, 9-D, 58-D
• *-prefix (theme answers): 6-A, 12-A, 17-A, ...
• plurals: 22-A, 47-D ('they'); 42-A&45-A (repetition); 61-A ('and the like'); 8-D ('and others'); 37-D ('array');
  28-D, 81-D, 86-D ('?'); 31-A, 46-A, 59-A, 71-A, 124-A, 1-D, 3-D, 16-D, 27-D, 33-D, 46-D, 60-D ('-s')
• abbrev./acronym: 28-A ('briefly'), 100-A ('Vette); 105-A, 70-D, 85-D ('org.'); 10-D ('sch.'); 23-D ('Trig');
  33-D ('R.N.s'); 81-D ('letters'); 96-D ('acronym'); 112-D ('abbr.'); 82-A, 94-D (?)
• singular: ('when repeated'); prefix: 74-A, 114-A; tense: 50-A ('-ed'), 35-D ('took'), 99-D ('-ing')
• adverb/adjective: 18-A, 126-A, 21-D, 51-D, 78-D, 79-D, 105-D
• literal: 22-A(año), 42-A & 45-A ('N N N'); refs to other clues: 61-A
• pop culture/music: 1-A, 24-A, 26-A, 29-A, 36-A, 39-A, 65-A, 67-A, 88-A, 96-A, 101-A, 122-A, 127-A,
  8-D, 9-D, 13-D, 38-D, 40-D, 42-D, 54-D, 66-D, 73-D, 77-D, 92-D, 116-D, 117-D
• literary (2 Shakespeare!): 32-A, 2-D, 5-D, 52-D; slang/current: 38-A, 85-A, 104-A, 7-D, 92-D, 109-D
• geographical/historical/political: 12-A, 29-A, 89-A, 118-A, 9-D, 14-D, 68-D, 70-D, 87-D, 102-D
• Roman numerals: 78-A
• math/science: 12-A, 23-D, 58-D, 64-D, 87-D, 111-D
• crosswordese: 62-A ('as is'?), 96-A ('Ara'), 28-D ('A-one')
• languages: Spanish: 30-A, 63-A; French: 59-A, 103-A; Greek: 42-A; Latin: 86-D; (?): 93-A ('whence the word')
• compass heading: 48-D
• puns: 76-A ('carrying a toon')
• ambiguity: 31-A ('winds'), 34-A ('touch'), 49-A ('slant'), 68-A ('hood'), 69-A ('shocker'), 90-A ('King'),
  98-A ('Numbers'), 116-A ('don't get it'), 114-A ('opening'), 124-A ('homes'), 125-A ('house'),
  1-D ('heads'), 6-D ('party'), 15-D ('in a way'), 12-D & 16-D ('pointer(s)'), 28-D ('tops'),
  32-D ('prone'), 43-D ('hitch'), 47-D ('keys'), 57-D ('opening'), 81-D ('letters'), 106-D ('bit'),
  115-D ('revealing'), 119-D ('straight')

References

• Wikipedia: English plurals: irregular, 'defective', etc.
• Wikipedia: Crossword: types of clues: consistency; non-dictionary words;
  themes; indirect clues; cryptics; double-clue lists
• Crossword Clue Examples: 10 Types of Crossword Clues with Examples
  Simple, Double, Anagrams, Cryptic, Sound, Hidden,
  Abbreviation, Charade, Reversal, Deletion; Amuselabs; 10/27/2023
• The Unspoken Language of Crosswords
  solvers must develop strong intuitions about what entries are possible
  and how they can be clued; Atl; 8/6/2023
• Life is a lot like a crossword puzzle 7/25/2021
• The Anatomy of an Error as a Puzzler DB; 7/4/2021
• What Climbing and Crosswords Have in Common getting a 'toehold'; Outside; 1/27/2021
• Our Favorite Crossword Clues of 2020 NYkr; 12/24/2020
• What to Do When the Crossword Grid Has Stumped You Reveal 1 letter; DB; 10/19/2020
• Using Sounds as Puzzle Clues Can Make a Crossword More Fun DB; 10/12/2020
• Breaking Down How Broken Up Clues Work on the Crossword Grid "With..." clues; DB; 10/5/2020
• Why Crossword Puzzle Clues and Answers Have to Agree With Each Other DB; 9/28/2020
• How This Common Crossword Puzzle Trap Could Easily Trip You Up same length answers; DB; 7/13/2020
• How the Daily Beast's Crossword Constructor Thinks About Question Marks in Clues
  spoiler / wordplay warnings? judgment call, based on factors like how tricky the wordplay is and how difficult that
  particular puzzle is supposed to be; 7/9/2020
• Putting Clever Cluing to the Test? PN; 6/6/2019
• Crossword Haikus as cryptic clues; 5/8/2019
• Our Favorite New Yorker Crossword Clues of 2018 NYr; 12/24/2018
• The Crossword From Hell puzzle; PN; 9/21/2017
• Clue discussion between Will Shortz and his assistant, Joel Fagliano:
  part 1 NYT; 12/6/2015; part 2 NYT; 12/7/2015
• 101 Words That are Both Plural and Singular 4/4/2014
• Modern Crossword Humor memorable clever, humorous, upbeat and
  lively clues and answers from Times puzzles of the past few years; 8/16/2012
• Exploring the history and rules of crossword puzzles 11/2/2010
• Become a Crossword Super Solver by Will Johnston
  Rules for clues; Varieties of clues; [.pdf; p4]; 1/19/2010
• NYT: Clueless Editors do make errors;
  Constructors sometimes break 'the rules'; NYT; 8/19/2001
• 48 Hardest Clues 12/26/1987
• BarelyBad: Relationships between clue and answer:
  Equivalence; Commonality; Set membership;
  Fill in the blank (FITB); Analogy
• Clever Clue of the Month
• CrosswordTracker.com: puzzle tips
• Saturday Stumper Solving Hints Newsday; What Makes the Stumpers Tough? [.pdf]
• HSW 6: Carefully Consider Clues with Question Marks (?) (and other punctuation)
• HSW 8: Keep in Mind Multiple Meanings of Words
• about.com: 3. Clues Obey Rules; 6. Constructors Love Confusion; 7. Wordplay is Wonderful!
• Word Buff: 2. Become Familiar with Cluing Conventions
• Anatomy of a Crossword Clue: Abbrev.; Partials; Capitalization; Agreement; Wordplay
• 14 Tricky Crossword Puzzle Clues That'll Leave You Stumped
• Wonder 1. Use Grammatical Indicators; 2. Break Down the Clue's Structure

---

Why? | Types | Summary | Quotes |
Examples: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun |
References

---

Why?

• A theme can make a crossword more enjoyable
  -- finding a pattern in what might otherwise seem a collection of random words
• With consistent theme entries, figuring out one or two can often help you solve the other theme entries.
• It can be more challenging to deduce a rule or solve a meta-puzzle within the puzzle.
• Themeless puzzles -- sometimes called free-style -- are more difficult, typically with longer slangy "stacked" entries.
• Examples: Universal; NYT (Fri, Sat -- and occasionally Sun)
• Some have been described as “crunchy,” “wide-open,” “chatty,” “clean” and “clueable.”

Types of Themes

• Wikipedia: "Many American crossword puzzles contain a 'theme' consisting of a number
  of long entries (generally three to five in a standard 15x15-square 'weekday'-size puzzle)
  that share some relationship, type of pun, or other element in common."
• Examples:
• Category theme: theme elements are all members of the same set
• e.g., five themed entries ending in the different parts of a tree:
  SQUAREROOT, TABLELEAF, WARDROBETRUNK, BRAINSTEM,
  BANKBRANCH; NYT 4/26/2005
• Quote themes, featuring a famous quote broken up into parts
  to fit in the grid (and usually clued as 'Quote, part 1',...);
• Rebus themes, where multiple letters, digits or even symbols
  occupy a single square in the puzzle (e.g., BERMUDAΔ);
• Addition themes, where theme entries are created by adding
  a letter, letters, or word(s) to an existing word or phrase.
• e.g., "Crucial pool shot?" = CRITICAL MASSE
  (formed by taking the phrase "critical mass" and adding an "e" on the end.
  All the theme entries in a given puzzle must be formed by the same process
  (so another entry might be "Greco-Roman buddy?" = WRESTLING MATE
  -- "wrestling mat" with an "e" added on). An example of a multiple-letter
  addition (and one that does not occur at the end of the entry) might be
  "Crazy about kitchen storage?" = CABINET FEVER (derived from "cabin fever");
• Subtraction themes, the reverse of the above,
  where letters are removed to make a new word or phrase;
• Compound themes, where the starts or ends of the
  theme entries can all precede or follow another word,
  which is given elsewhere in the puzzle.
• e.g., a puzzle with theme entries that begin with
  PAPER, BALL, and WATER and elsewhere in the puzzle,
  the word BOY clued as "Word that can follow the start of [theme entries]";
• Anniversary or tribute themes, commemorating a specific person, place, or event.
• e.g., the NYT 10/7/2011 crossword commemorated
  the life of Apple CEO Steve Jobs who had died on October 5.
  Theme entries related to Jobs' life included MACINTOSH,
  PIXAR, THINK DIFFERENT, CREATIVE GENIUS,
  STEVE JOBS, and APPLE.
• Synonym themes, where the theme entries all contain synonyms
• e.g., a Los Angeles Times puzzle featuring a set of theme entries that contain
  the words RAVEN, JET, EBONY, and SABLE, all synonyms for "black"
• Numerous other types have been identified, including spoonerisms,
  poems, shifted letters, rhyming phrases, puns, homophones, and
  combinations of two or more of other types of themes.
• cruciverb.com: List of theme categories and examples: Additions; Alliterations;
  Anagram / Scramble; Antonyms; Bookends; Category Members; Combined Types;
  Complete The Clue; Compounds; Containers (hidden); Definitions; Deletions;
  Designated Squares; Direction change; Double/Triple Letters; Featured Letter(s);
  Grid design; Holidays and Special Occasions; Homophones; Jokes / Riddles;
  Language / Accent; Mini theme; Pairs / Triplets / nTuplets; Palindromes; Positional;
  Proper Name Play; Punchlines; Puns; Quips and Quotes; Rebus; Redivision; Repetition;
  Reversals; Rhyme; Sequence; Shared Centers; Shared Initials; Shift; Spoonerisms;
  Stacked 15s; String / Chain; Substitutions; Switch; Synonyms; Tribute; 4Verse

Summary

• How to locate the theme entries and uncover the theme?
• Does puzzle have a Title? It should be theme-related, but might not be obvious until you finish!
• By convention, theme entries are the longest entries, and appear in symmetric Across locations
  -- though occasionally in (additional) Down locations
• Do long answers have 'marked' clues (?, *, CAPS), or contain circles in grid?
• Does a special clue, often later in clue list (for central or last Across theme entry),
  'explain' the theme -- aka 'reveal' or 'payoff' entry)
• Some authors are known for certain themes, e.g., Reagle for puns.
• Use crossing entries to figure out 1 or 2 longer theme answers;
  if you recognize a pattern, test/apply your theme hypothesis on other likely theme answers.
• If several answers are not fitting, especially on a Thu or Sun,
  and extra letters or numbers appear to be needed, suspect a rebus or a direction change!
• "What to do about a rebus.
  We call a square that has more than one letter in it (or any other non-letter symbol)
  a 'rebus square.' We have a few different types of rebus puzzles, with varying levels
  of trickiness. The most straightforward examples would use the same group of letters
  in each of the rebus squares. For instance, in this classic example, the letters J-A-C-K
  are put in rebus squares, with the revealer JACK IN THE BOX. Sometimes the words vary
  throughout the puzzle, but are all related in some way. Here, synonyms for 'zero'
  are 'rebusized,' with the revealer INBOX ZERO. Some rebuses are what we would call
  'bidirectional' rebuses -- the square might be one letter or set of letters in the
  Across clues, and different letters in the Downs. In this sciencey puzzle, E=MC²;
  the rebus squares use E's in the Across entries and MC's in the Down entries.
  
  How do you know when we might pull this trick? These puzzles, when they appear,
  almost always run on Thursdays. Occasionally we will run a more straightforward one
  on a Wednesday or Sunday. On those days, you should always be on the alert for possible
  trickiness. Some specific things to look for are a 'revealer' in the grid that might
  hint at things being crammed or squished, boxes or squares, or general smallness.
  Some recent examples — STEM CELLS, TOO LITTLE TOO LATE, TRAFFIC JAM, and AB CRUNCHES.
  
  If you're ever solving a puzzle and you know the answer to a clue but it has too many
  letters to fit in a space, that’s a good hint that something tricky is going on.
  It could be a rebus, but it could be some other type of shenanigans as well!
  You might have to rely on the crossings to figure out where the tricky squares are.""
  ~Christina Iverson; NYT Wordplay newsletter, 12/15/23
• Do you need to add/remove a letter or letter sequence from/to all of the theme entries?
• Shapes in grid pattern?
• Insets or circled letters may provide an additional theme level or puzzle-within-a-puzzle
• Answer or some words reversed? palindrome; malapropism; spoonerism
• Examples; References

Quotes

• "Discovering a crossword's theme is... often half the fun of solving.
  And once you nail one answer in a puzzle's theme,
  figuring out the other long answers is usually much easier." ~Will Shortz
• "I think the next best thing to solving a problem... is finding some humor in it." ~Frank Howard Clark
• "I stick to simple themes... Love. Hate. No nuances.
  I stay away from psychoanalyst's couch scenes..." ~John Wayne
• "That puzzle’s central pun, which drew raves from many contestants, took up three full 'across' lines.
  The clue was: 'Coretta, Steve, Nick, Robert E., Thomas, Toni, Susan B., Joe, Blanche, Gladys.'...
  "The answer was 'King, Forrest, Lowe, Lee, Mann, Tennille, Anthony, Namath, Thebom, Knight.'
  If the names are read quickly, the line sounds like: 'King forced lowly man to kneel,
  and then he named the bum knight.'"
  ~Maura Jacobson's puzzle for 1983 US Open Crossword Puzzle Championship

Examples

• OLLI Course: Constructing Crosswords: Themes: NYT, LAT, Reagle,
  Crossword Constructor's Handbook, Johnston, Steve, tutorial articles, ...; e.g., "Puzzle Piece"
• Examples below are organized by day of week:
  Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri,Sat | Sun
• Click on date/title link for solution (and even more clues & answers)
  and clue discussion -- if available
• Click on .puz for puzzle download -- if available;
  $ indicates subscription required (e.g., NYT)
• [theme] indicates type of theme
  click on [theme]= to reveal theme details (spoiler alert!); themes from cruciverb categories above;
  * suffix indicates non-constant addition/rebus. "various" for lists of puzzles
• Click on any "clue"= -- spoiler alert! -- to reveal the answer ignore spaces & punctuation

Monday

• NYT; 1/28/2002 [.puz]; Will Shortz says (why 1 of 5 favorites):
  [repetition]= first two letters repeated, e.g., HOHO
  "Here's proof that a crossword doesn't have to be hard to be exceptional.
  Besides the four basic theme answers in the longest spaces in the grid,
  look for four 'bonus' theme-related entries in shorter spots."
• Newsday; 3/28/2011; Making Perfect [category]= synonyms for improving
  "Battery-powered tool"= CORDLESS DRILL
  "Self-employed doctor's business"= PRIVATE PRACTICE
• NYT; various; free [various];
  The Learning Network: Student Crosswords [category; special occasions]

Tuesday

• NYT; 11/5/1996; Election Day Puzzle
  [special occasion, 'quantum']= intentional ambiguity in crossing clues;
  "It was the most amazing crossword I've ever seen.
  As soon as it appeared, my telephone started ringing.
  Most people said 'How dare you presume that Clinton will win!'
  And the people who filled in BOB DOLE thought we'd made a whopper of a mistake!"
  ~Will Shortz
  "Lead story in tomorrow's newspaper"= CLINTON ELECTED or BOB DOLE ELECTED
  "Black Halloween animal"= CAT or BAT
  [.puz version 1], [.puz version 2], discussion
• NYT; 10/31/2000 [.puz]; Will Shortz says (why 1 of 5 favorites):
  [category; feature letters]= Superman theme; "S" in circled letters;
  "This puzzle's clever theme is signaled by the highlighted letters in the middle of the grid.
  For the constructor to get all these multi-checked letters to work could not have been easy."
• NYT; 12/28/2010 [.puz$]: [switch]= swap phrase words
  "Distance runner's skirt?"= MARATHON MINI
  "Valuable truck?"= PRECIOUS SEMI
• NYT; 1/25/2011 [.puz$]: [palindromes]
  "Spanish moray still exists"= SEVILLE EEL LIVES
  "Polish sister showed her inexperience"= WARSAW NUN WAS RAW
  "Silver State boogie band autopsy expert"= RENO ROCK CORONER
• NYT; 2/1/2011 [.puz$]: [anagram; hidden]= embedded "MEDIA" scrambled
  "Artwork using both paint and collage, e.g. ...and a hint to this puzzle's circled letters"= MIXED MEDIA
  "Big name in orange juice"= MINUT(EMAID)
  "Large gem in the Smithsonian"= HOP(E DIAM)OND
• Newsday; 3/29/2011; Shoe Business [category]= shoe-related word in phrase
  "Seafood entree"= FILLET OF SOLE
  "Verbal gaffe"= SLIP OF THE TONGUE
• NYT; Tue; various; free [various]

Wednesday

• NYT; 5/23/2001 [.puz]; Will Shortz says (why 1 of 5 favorites):
  [hidden]= Hidden States; embedded state names, e.g., OREGON;
  "The secret of this puzzle's theme is revealed at 62- and 16-Across.
  The theme itself appears in the six longest Across answers.
  That's a lot of theme material, with a crackerjack construction besides."
• NYT; 9/8/2010 [.puz$]: [rebus]= [ZZ] in single square
  "Rock trio known for its bearded members"= [ZZ]TOP
  "'Water that moves you' sloganeer"= JACU[ZZ]I
  "Caffeine-induced state, slangily"= BU[ZZ]
• NYT; 12/1/2010 [.puz$]: [tribute]= movies from a famous director
  "... of 1977"= ANNIE HALL
  "With 66-Across, subject of this puzzle, born 12/1/1935"= WOODY ALLEN
• NYT; 12/22/2010 [.puz$]: [deletions]= common expressions with a phrase omitted
  "*'Soon enough, my friend'"= GOOD TIME
  "*Completely imagined"= YOUR HEAD
  "Poker phrase ... or what's needed to complete the answers to the six starred clues"= ALL IN
• NYT; 12/29/2010 [.puz$]: [language]= Spanish phrases with ~
  "Salsa verde ingredients"= JALAPENO PEPPERS
  "Procrastinating words south of the border"= MANANA SENOR
  "Mark used four times in this puzzle's solution"= TILDE
• NYT; 1/12/2011 [.puz$]: [rebus]= [HALF] in corners/center
  "1A. Poorly developed, as an idea"= [HALF] BAKED
  "1D. Deceptive remark"= [HALF] TRUTH
• NYT; 1/26/2011 [.puz$]: [quote]= first word of long answers spell a phrase
  "Alien abductions, e.g."= CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
  "All kidding aside ..."= BUT SERIOUSLY
  "With 65-Across, the starts of 20-, 26-, 43- and 51-Across taken together"=
  NEAR MISS (phrase: CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR)
• NYT; 2/2/2011 [.puz$]: [repetition; sequence]= double a word, add AEIOU
  "After the maid cleans out the ___ ___ going to polish the fireplace doors"= (A)SHES SHES
  "The note accompanying the ___ ___ that all money should go to charity"= (E)STATES STATES
  "The reporter heard the New York ___ ___ his coach"= (I)SLANDER SLANDER
  "At the organic market, the price of ___ ___ from moderate to ridiculous"= (O)RANGES RANGES
  "The teacher found that ___ ___-a-longs helped her pupils remember their ABCs"= (U)SING SING
• Onion A.V. Club; 4/11/2012; puzzle: [.pdf], [.puz]; solution: [.pdf]:
  [special occasions]= commemorative theme about Encyclopedia Britannica, apt for my OLLI E-books course
  13A / 17A. Something a kid can build only with the print (as opposed to the online) version of 65-Across=
  EXTRA STEPS / FOR A SLINKY
  28A / 35A. Use for volumes of 65-Across in the kitchen= STABILIZING / WOBBLY TABLE LEGS
  44A / 59A. Short dessert lover's application of 65-Across= REACHING FOR / A COOKIE JAR
  65A. Encyclopedia discontinuing its 32-volume print version after 244 years= BRITANNICA
• NYT; Wed; various; free [various]

Thursday

• NYT; 5/8/1997 [.puz]; Will Shortz says (why 1 of 5 favorites):
  [pairs]= Interleague Play; concatenated baseball team names;
  "David Kahn never makes an ordinary puzzle, but this one is truly exceptional.
  Every theme answer (four horizontal and two vertical) interlocks with at least one other,
  and the answer at 7-Down gives a playful explanation of what these six have in common."
• NYT; 5/27/2004; from "Five Unforgettable Puzzles" (WordPlay DVD pamphlet); [.puz$]:
  [category]= Wardrobe Malfunction; phrases starting with clothing item
• NYT; 9/9/2010 [.puz$]: [grid]= characters spelled-out in grid
  "Lower septet of black squares in this grid, typographically"= SEVEN
  "Octet of black squares in the middle of this grid typographically"= TWO DASHES
• NYT; 10/7/2010 [.puz$]: [direction change]= each "SIDE" bends around a corner
  "Outdoor retail promotion"= (SID)EWALKSALE
  "Where marmots and chamois live"= MOUNTAINS(IDE)
• NYT; 10/21/2010 [.puz$]: [rebus; grid]= [BLOCK] in black(!) square
  "Temporary lapse of memory"= MENTAL [BLOCK]
  "Neighborhood get-togethers"= [BLOCK] PARTIES
  "The 2x2 black square near the middle of this puzzle's grid, e.g., which is part of eight answers"= BLOCK
• NYT; 11/4/2010 [.puz$]: [rebus]= [HOLE]
  "Office device appropriate for this puzzle?"= [HOLE]PUNCH
  "End of a perfect Sunday drive?"= [HOLE] IN ONE
  "Quick outing for Tiger Woods ... or what this completed puzzle contains"= NINE [HOLE]S
• NYT; 11/11/2010 [.puz$]: [featured letters]= each theme answer must be rotated 90, 180 or 270 degrees
  "*Antimicrobial bit in mouthwashes [90 degrees]"= NHZUHOZ (ZINC ION)
  "*Apollo 11 and 12 [180 degrees]"= SNOISSIWNOOW (MOON MISSIONS)
  "#1 hit by the Byrds ... or directions for reading the answers
  to this puzzle's starred clues (always clockwise as indicated)"= TURN TURN TURN
• NYT; 11/18/2010 [.puz$]: [featured letters]= each letter of the alphabet appears at least four times
  "What this puzzle is, orthographically"= QUADRUPLE PANGRAM
• NYT; 12/16/2010 [.puz$]: [deletions]= well-known expressions with a phrase removed
  "*'I don't know yet'"= THAT REMAINS SEEN
  "*1968 #2 hit heard in 'Easy Rider'"= BORN WILD
  "Ill-fated ... or a hint for answering the six starred clues"= NOT TO BE
• NYT; 12/23/2010 [.puz$]: [quote ]
  "What to use to spell 30-Down, according to George Bernard Shaw, reputedly,
  Part 1"= THE GH FROM ENOUGH
  "Part 2"= THE O FROM WOMEN
  "Part 3"= THE TI FROM NATION
  30D. "'Fish'"= GHOTI
• NYT; 2/3/2011 [.puz$]: [complete the clue?]= adjacent clue used for missing clue
  "Advice for solving this puzzle, part 1"= IF A CLUE
  "Advice, part 2"= IS MISSING USE THE
  "End of the advice"= NEXT ONE
  "1A. ---"= RAKES
  "6A. Does yard work"= MOWS
• NYT; 7/13/2023 Hanh Hyunh (debut); homophone-based rebus
• NYT; 4/13/2023 Robin Yu (debut); spatial puns describe the reason certain words are being 'rebus-ized'
• NYT; 5/7/2009 Elizabeth Gorski. use of a single letter to represent four different words

Friday, Saturday

• Usually themeless (and harder!) -- but included here since Will Shortz liked...
• NYT; Fri, 9/29/2000; [.puz]; Will Shortz says (why 1 of 5 favorites):
  "This themeless 68-word puzzle contains ten 15-letter answers spanning the grid,
  with 8-Down intersecting the nine going across. As typical with Bob Klahn,
  he spices up the puzzle with lively vocabulary, and the grid doesn't have
  a single unnecessary black square."
• NYT; Fri, 3/11/2005; from "Five Unforgettable Puzzles" (WordPlay DVD pamphlet); [.puz$]:
  at the time, set record for fewest (19) black squares

Sunday

• NYT; 4/29/2001; High Definition; from "Five Unforgettable Puzzles" (WordPlay DVD pamphlet); [.puz$]:
  [category; reversal]= Empire State Building; 'ride' elevator up in longest down answer
• NYT; 2/9/2003; Drawing Power; from "Five Unforgettable Puzzles" (WordPlay DVD pamphlet); [.puz$]:
  [hidden]= "NINA" embedded 16 times in various directions
• NYT; 3/13/2005; Laboratory Maze; from "Five Unforgettable Puzzles" (WordPlay DVD pamphlet); [.puz$]:
  [category; grid]= lab rat theme; with RAT embedded? see Notepad for maze instructions
• NYT; 8/15/2010; Is There an Echo in Here? [.puz$]:
  [repetition; homonym]= last word(maybe homonym) of phrase doubled
  "Underachiever's motto?"= MAY IT EVER BE SO SO
  "Registering a poodle?"= LICENSING FI FI
  "Reservation at a Johannesburg restaurant?"= TABLE FOR TU TU
• NYT; 9/5/2010; Turning Back [.puz$]: [reversals]= two word phrases (2nd word reversed)
  "Taking the dimensions of busybodies?"= MEASURING SNOOPS
  "Comment in a women's mag?"= COSMO REMARK
• NYT; 10/10/2010; Drivers' Translations [.puz$]: [punchlines]= funny meaning of traffic signs
  "YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK ..."= PORK BARREL PROJECT
  "MERGING TRAFFIC ..."= PREPARE TO BE CUT OFF
  "STAY IN LANE ..."= IGNORE THIS SIGN
• NYT; 12/12/2010; The Wish [.puz$]: [substitutions]=
  W replaced by H (W is H) in well-known phrases
  "Alien attackers' goal?"= GLOBAL HARMING
  "Rush hour control?"= HASTE MANAGEMENT
• NYT; 12/19/2010; Hope for Clear Skies [.puz$]: [rebus*]=
  eclipse words: [MOON], [DARK], [DIM], [BRIGHT], [EARTH], [SUN]
  "A long time past"= MANY [MOON]S AGO
  "Many an avid observer of a 125-Across"= AMATEUR ASTRONOMER
  125A. "Event on Dec. 21, 2010, viewable in North and South America,
  depicted visually in this puzzle"=
  TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE
• NYT; 12/26/2010; Hey, Mister [.puz$]: [additions; punchlines]= inserting "MAN" into phrases
  "Loving comment from an astronaut's wife?"= I NEED MY SPACE(MAN)
  "What Dustin Hoffman gets to do often, thanks to royalties?"= TAKE A RAIN(MAN) CHECK
  "Actor John playing Wayne Knight's role on 'Seinfeld'?"= GOOD(MAN) AS NEW(MAN)
• NYT; 1/9/2011; The Long and Short of It [.puz$]:
  [substitutions; language; punchlines]= short and long vowels interchanged in "IT" phrases
  "Manic desire to make sweaters when the weekend starts?"= SATURDAY KNIT FEVER
  "Contents of the Visine Gazette?"= EYE WHITENESS NEWS
• NYT; 1/23/2011; Letter Openers [.puz$]:
  [featured letters; sequence]= each of 26 theme answers starts w/ different letter, i.e., holoalphabetic (A-Z)
  95-D: "From ___ Z (how this puzzle goes?)"= A TO
  26 *-clues: each answer...= starts with a letter from A to Z (holoalphabetic)
  "*Insulation measure"= RVALUE
  "*Weapon first tested in '52"= HBOMB
• NYT; 1/30/2011; Circle of Life [.puz$]: [rebus*]= [Chinese New Year animal name]
  "Rum, vodka, and orange juice drink"= BRASS[MONKEY]
  "Viewable, to a camera operator"= INF[RAM]E
  "Result of turning the corner?"= [DOG]EAR
• Reagle; 2/6/2011; Keep it Moving: [punchlines; additions]= "GO" inserted
  "What the producers of 'Frida' said when they finally found someone to play her artist husband?"=
  THE DIE(GO) IS CAST
  "What it says on Donald Trump's money"= E(GO) PLURIBUS UNUM
• Reagle; 2/20/2011; Punjabbing: [puns]= Hindu inspired
  "Co-star of 'Apu of Mayberry'?"= RANI HOWARD
  "Okay, you can visit that Indian city, but come right home!"= DON'T DELHI DALLY
  "What you might feel while solving this puzzle?"= AGRA-VATION
• Reagle; 2/27/2011; Near-Miss Oscar Nominees: [puns]= imaginary movie names
  "Unnominated film featuring Inspector Clouseau?"= THE SOCIAL NITWIT
  "Unnominated film about a CPA's family?"= THE KIDS ARE ALL WRITE-OFFS
  "Unnominated film about the recipe that got Hans Christian Andersen arrested?"= BLACKENED SWAN
  "Unnominated film (part of a series) about the making of 'War and Peace'?"= TOLSTOY 3 (note digit)
• Reagle; 3/6/2011; Heads of State: [additions*]= state abbrev. prefixed to ordinary phrase
  "Like some political scandals?"= (MI)STRESS RELATED
  "Answer to 'What do you want on your BLT, Rocky?'"= (MA)YO ADRIAN
  "Film about boastful jerks?"= (VA)IN GLOURIOUS BASTERDS
• NYT; 3/20/2011; Chick Lit [.puz$]: [category members]= book titles containing birds
  "Chick lit book #1 (1992)"= THE PELICAN BRIEF
  "Chick lit book #2 (1843), with 'The'"= UGLY DUCKLING
  "Chick lit book #3 (1965)"= THE STERILE CUCKOO
• Reagle; 3/27/2011; Seeing the Country: [hidden*]= embedded nation names
  "'This old man' lyric"= GIVE A DO(G A BON)E
  "Chameleon's comment?"= I (CAN ADA)PT
  "A trifecta of severe winter weather"= SLEE(T HAIL AND) RAIN
  "Mumps' symptoms (and technically this should be 'Great Britain', but how often does one get a chance
  to put this answer in a puzzle?)"= SWOLL(EN GLAND)S
• Newsday; 3/27/2011; Phone Messages: [sequence; featured letters]= phone key letters; holographic
  "...to a 70's music station (press 7)"= PLAY QUEEN ROCK SONG (7: PQRS)
  "...from a vet (press 9)"= WE XRAYED YOUR ZEBRA (9: WXYZ)
  "...to an auto technician (press 8)"= TURN UP VOLUME (8: TUV)
  "...from an anxious parent (press 4)"= GO HOME IMMEDIATELY (4:GHI)
• NYT; 4/17/2011; End of the Line [.puz$]: [punchlines]
  "The car stopped on a dime. Unfortunately, the dime was"=
  IN A PEDESTRIANS POCKET ~Anonymous
  "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it"=
  THROUGH NOT DYING ~Woody Allen
  "Whoever named it necking was"= A POOR JUDGE OF ANATOMY ~Groucho Marx
• Reagle; 4/24/2011; Easter Egg Hunt: [rebus]= [EGG]
  "Cyborg portrayer"= SCHWARZEN[EGG]ER
  "Expecting, in England"= PR[EGG]ERS
  "German philosopher Martin"= HEID[EGG]ER
• NYT; 5/29/2011 [.puz$]: [grid; rebus]= The grid represents a maze.
  Enter the room at the upper left and exit at the lower right, following a path that will become
  apparent as you solve the crossword. When the puzzle is done, read the circled letters in the order
  in which the rooms are visited to spell a quote by 153-Across."; rebus: gray square [DOOR]
  "Go canvassing, say"= RING [DOOR] BELLS
  "Done for, finito, kaput"= DEAD AS A [DOOR] NAIL
  "[See blurb] (quote author)"= EMERSON. Following the DOORs from room to room,
  the circles spell out the EMERSON quote, 'EVERY WALL IS A DOOR.'
• NYT; 7/10/2011; Body Enhancement [.puz$]:
  [additions*; grid]= common expressions with an 'enhancement', an extra letter that is circled in the grid.
  The circled letters, when read from top to bottom, spells out the word IMPLANTS,
  and if you connect the letters they define the profile of a breast
  "What a poltergeist investigator does?"= COUNTS NO(I)SES
  "Attempts to climb a mountain range?"= TAKES ON THE CH(A)IN
• NYT; 7/17/2011; The End is in Sight [.puz$]:
  [designated squares; homophone]= common expressions with last word missing.
  margin: homophone from circled letters
  "Parting words from the busy type"= PLA(C)ES TO GO PEOPLE TO [C]
  "End of a command at the Battle of Bunker Hill"= THE WH(I)TES OF THE(I)R [II]
  "End of a Benjamin Franklin aphorism"= HEALTH(Y) WEALTH(Y) AND [YY]
• Reagle; 9/4/2011; Lost in Translation: [punchlines]= movie studio expressions
  "Colossal ? !"= WASTE OF TALENT
  "Fascinating ? !"= FOR ABOUT TWO OF ITS / NINETY MINUTES
  "I smell Oscar ? !"= MAYER BALONEY
• Reagle; 9/11/2011; Altar'd States: [string/chain; puns]= If so-and-so married such-and-such, she'd be...
  "If a singer married 1940s film star Jack, she'd be ___"= MARIAH CAREY OAKIE
  "If an actress married Eliot, then Herman, she'd be ___"= SONDRA LOCKE NESS MUNSTER
• Reagle; 9/25/2011; Playing with Shakespeare: [puns]
  "Shak. play about a guy who has trouble meeting girls?"= MACBREATH
  "Shak. play about Prospero's favorite books?"= THE TEN BEST
  "Shak. play whose original title was 'Hey, You'?"= OH FELLOW
  "A Shak. play that turns out the opposite of what you expected?"= ANTONYM AND CLEOPATRA
• NYT; 10/30/2011; Hollywood from Right to Left [.puz$]:
  [substitutions]= Hollywood movie titles with R changed to L
  "One of St. Peter's heavenly duties?"= ANGEL MANAGEMENT
  "Workout class on a pleasure cruise?"= PILATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
  "What a lazy mover prefers to carry?"= THE LIGHT STUFF
• NYT; 11/6/2011; Baker's Dozen [.puz$]: [reversals]= a dozen of the 'down' answers are
  types of cakes, each written in reverse order
  "Schokolade"= ETALOCOHCNAMREG (GERMAN CHOCOLATE)
  "Wooded area near the Rhine Valley"= TSEROFKCALF (BLACK FOREST)
  "Pastry chef creations ... and a hint to 12 other answers in this puzzle"= UPSIDEDOWN CAKES
• NYT; 12/4/2011; Swapping Partners [.puz$]: [switch]= transposed letters
  " Anais Nin, e.g.?"= D(IA)RY QUEEN
  "Specialty of a couples therapist?"= MAR(IT)AL ARTS
  "Circus performer in makeup?"= RO(UG)E ELEPHANT
• NYT; 12/11/2011; Taking Half Steps [.puz$]: [rebus*]= musical: [FLAT] [SHARP] [NATURAL]
  "Knives, forks and spoons"= [FLAT]WARE
  "Where a plant or animal thrives"= [NATURAL] HABITAT
  "Little shavers at school?"= PENCIL [SHARP]ENERS
• NYT; 12/18/2011; Again? [.puz$]: [additions]= "A" inserted to create funny phrases
  "Dislike of the son of Mary, Queen of Scots?"= KING JAMES (A)VERSION
  "Soft-spoken prayer ending?"= GENTLE(A)MEN
  "Practical joke used on squirrels?"= PEPPER(A)CORN
• NYT; 2/5/2012; State Annexation [.puz$]: [additions*; combined?]=
  each theme clue is linked to another answer in the grid which is combined with the two letter abbreviation
  for the state that is referred to in the clue by its state capitol.
  "38A. 117-Down near Salem? 117D. Perfect rating."= 117D: TEN; 38A: OPERA SINGER (TEN + OR)
  "22A.45-Down near Baton Rouge? 45D. Basketball rim"= 45D: HOOP; 22A: EXCITEMENT (HOOP + LA)
  "111A. 61-Across near Phoenix? 61A. Blouse, e.g."= 61A: TOP; 111A: BIRTHSTONE (TOP + AZ)
• NYT; 2/26/2012; Back to the Start [.puz$]: [repetition?]= wrap around to reuse letters at beginning
  "Aide for a V.I.P. customer"= (PER)SONAL SHOP
  "Prozac, for one"= (ANT)IDEPRESS
• NYT; 3/4/2012; Love Story [.puz$]: [quote]
  "An elderly woman was having dinner with her husband and was ..."= SIPPING ON A GLASS OF WINE
  "She said "After all these years ..."= IM STILL CRAZY ABOUT YOU
• NYT; 3/18/2012; Rear-End Collisions [.puz$]: [rebus*; category]= theme two word answers:
  first word is a synonym of "compress",
  and the last/rear word is written pairs of letters 'colliding' together in the same square
  "Burro, e.g."= PACK [AN][IM][AL]
  "Widely popular shows, say"= CROWD [PL][EA][SE][RS]
  "Mexican cooking ingredients called 'flores de calabaza' in Spanish"= SQUASH [BL][OS][SO][MS]
• NYT; 3/25/2012; Two-For-One Special [.puz$]: [substitutions*; repetition]=
  theme answers are made up of two related words. The first word is transformed into the second by taking
  a letter that appears twice in the first word and replacing it with a letter that appears once in the same word
  "Ordeal that's no big deal?"= TRIVIAL TRAVAIL (I replaces A)
  "Toy hammer?"= MATTEL MALLET (T replaces L)
  "Goddess of gas?"= ETHANE ATHENA (E replaces A)
• NYT; 4/8/2012; In-nuendos [.puz$]: [designated squares; combined?]=
  the ultimate answer for each of the themed clues is in the format X IN Y.
  The 'X' is the word spelled out by the circled letters 'in' each answer;
  the 'Y' is hinted at by the answer itself.
  "1997 Will Smith/Tommy Lee Jones flick"= AFRICAN A(M)(E)RICA(N) : 'MEN' in "Black")
  "Headstone phrase"= T(R)(E)ATY RE(S)UL(T) : "REST" in "Peace"
  "Golf ace"= T(H)E L(O)NE(L)IEST NUMB(E)R : "HOLE" in "One"

References

• HSW 4: Figure Out the Theme; Wonder 3. Work out Crossword Themes
• What Makes a Great Crossword Puzzle Title? DB; 12/7/2020
• The Crossword Mentality in Modern Literature and Culture by Adrienne Raphel;
  .pdf; Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences; 2018;
  e.g., Chapter 3. Crosswords: A Field Guide, pp. 199-
• How to Solve The New York Times Crossword What Is A Theme? Why Is There A Theme?
  Where Is There A Theme? Rebus: mini; NYT; 11/2017
• Yes, You Can Write More Than One Letter in a Square rebus; NYT; 6/1/2017
• Vowel Play uses A, E, I, O and U in succession for each of the eight theme answers; NYT; 11/16/2013
• Become a Crossword Super Solver by Will Johnston Themes; [.pdf; p1]; 1/19/2010

---

Quotes | Summary |
References: General | Applications | Web

---

Quotes

• "Q. Is it 'cheating' to consult a dictionary or other reference sources
  when stumped by a crossword puzzle clue?...
  A. It's your puzzle. Solve it any way you want."
  ~Will Weng (2nd NYT Crossword Ed.; as quoted by Will Shortz)
• "If you have to look something up... you learn about it
  so you know it for next time, that's a good thing." ~Deb Amlen
• "Where We Draw the Line on Cheating (at Least in Crossword Puzzles)?
  I don’t know that there is any true consensus on what is considered cheating,
  and context definitely matters. If you’re competing in a crossword solving tournament,
  everyone would agree that you can’t ask for help from another person,
  use Google or write the answers on your palm. However, most of us are not
  competing in tournaments. It's supposed to be fun, so have fun with it!
  
  My personal feeling is that I’d rather learn something while solving a puzzle
  than not finish it. If I don’t know the answer, it feels better to read
  about it on Wikipedia than to leave the puzzle unfinished. My own standard
  is that using a dictionary, a thesaurus or an encyclopedia is perfectly
  acceptable, but just Googling the clue and “New York Times Crossword”
  would give me a pang of guilt. When I first started solving, I often
  used outside resources to help me get into a corner I was locked out of.
  I rarely do this anymore, but I think that’s partly because I learned
  more from reading Wikipedia articles than I would have if I’d just left
  puzzles incomplete." ~Christina Iverson; NYT Wordplay blog, 11/3/2023
• "'Judge John Hodgman' told the story of his own streak addiction, and how unhealthy it was
  when his happiness depended on hearing the ditty that plays upon finishing a puzzle.
  He went on to advise restraint: 'Do not get addicted to the streak. Do not let it interfere
  with your life. Do the puzzle such that it is fun, and not an addictive torment to you.'"
  
  "The puzzle-checking features in our app do nullify a crossword streak.
  If keeping a [puzzle solving] streak brings you joy, then go ahead and keep it up.
  But if it’s causing you anxiety, then allow yourself the freedom to use whatever
  features [e.g., Check button] make the puzzle more enjoyable for you."
  ~Christina Iverson, Easy Mode newsletter, 3/22/2024
• "Solving some puzzles digitally allows you... to look at [Check/Reveal]
  just one word or letter and keep working on the rest of the clues.
  Frequently, that one letter or word can break open the entire grid.
  So don't throw the puzzle aside when you hit a wall -- just peek
  at a letter or word you really want and see if that doesn't do the trick.
  Next time, maybe you won't need the cheat." ~Matt Gaffney
• "I cheat when... I do the crossword puzzle on Sunday." ~Derek Shepherd
• Just finished a crossword by Googling all the clues...What have you done with your life?
• "It is always easier for... one man to solve another man's problem." ~Chinese Proverb
• "For any three answers, call from a touch-tone phone...$1.49 each minute."
  [and]
  "Answers [free] on Page ... of today's paper." ~Mail Tribune; Sun NYT crossword
• "About 35-40% of the time, a player wants to create a word... ending in a specific letter.
  This, however, is not the way we traditionally think, and, not to mention,
  this is not the way dictionaries are sorted. In other words, in many situations,
  conventional dictionaries are not arranged in an easy to use manner.
  This dictionary solves that problem by sorting on the last letter of the word."
  ~Richard D. Ekstrom, The Backwords Dictionary: A Word Ending Dictionary

Summary

• People: ask a partner / friend for help
• Paper: use dictionaries, or printed solutions, or call 800- ($)
• Digital: use an app's Check (Show Errors) or Reveal (Show Answer) command;
  search online with a clue, match a partial word pattern, or locate complete solution
• Search for clue online, e.g., DuckDuckGo, Google, Bing, Wikipedia
• "___ maior, minor cessat" (3) [Google] = UBI
• "Candid Camera" co-host Jo Ann (5) [Google] = PFLUG
• "1956 film that earned an Oscar nomination for 11-year-old Patty McCormack (10)
  [Google] =THE BAD SEED
• clue/answer web sites, e.g.: Crossword Tracker, Crossword Giant for many syndicated crosswords
• crossword app, e.g., iPad: Crosswords: Hints: Google Search
  
• Check word in dictionary
• Find matching words via patterns: guessed letters & match others
  via wildcard: ? (single) or * (any)
• dictionary web site, e.g.,
• CrosswordTracker (only ?, no *):
  answer: ?a?a?a;
  clue: fruit; answer: b?????
• OneLook; ?a?a?a; ba*a?a
• OneAcross.com, crossword-solver.io
• Wordlisted
• dictionary app, e.g., iPad: WordWeb
• crossword app, e.g., iPad: Crosswords: Hints: OneAcross
• Check or Reveal (part of) the solution via crossword app, e.g., Crosswords, Across Lite
• Show / Check incorrect letter(s) (letter/word/puzzle) via color/symbol,
  e.g., iPad: Crosswords, result; Mac: Across Lite
• Reveal correct letter/word/puzzle, e.g., iPad: Crosswords; Mac: Across Lite
• Paper: find puzzle solution (next day, other page)
• Online: search for solution by clue(s), or browse crossword blogs by date, e.g., NYT, Sat; 9/11/2010
• Selectively peek at a clue or area

References

• sections: Applications, Web
• see also: Constructing Crosswords: Tools: Add-on Dictionaries
• Canadians among top crossword 'cheaters,' study reveals using outside sources; 12/29/2022
• Anne R Bradford -- in memoriam
  We salute the woman who, stumped by a Ximenes clue in 1957, began work on
  what would become the crossword solver's most indispensable book:
  Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary; Guardian; 11/8/2021
• How crossword and Scrabble cheats are exposed by their shameful Google searches 2/22/2021
• 15 crossword solvers for Android, iOS, and the web that actually work 12/1/2020
• A New Way to Trace the History of Sci-Fi's Made-Up Words, Neologisms (and Neosemes!)
  Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction; Wired; 1/27/2021
• Use the 1913 Webster's Dictionary When You Need to Define a Word online 1913 dict.; LH; 10/3/2020
• Google Home: 5 ways your smart speaker is a wiz with words
  For example, say, "OK, Google, what's a four letter word meaning 'cut'" and Google Home
  will generate a list, including 'gash' and 'snip'. Unfortunately, you can't give it the letters
  you've already filled in, for example, if it starts with a 'G'; CNet; 7/26/2020
• 15 crossword solvers for Android, iOS, and the web that actually work!
  mostly lookup tools (not complete apps); 3/5/2020
• 13 Facts About the Oxford English Dictionary MF; 2/22/2019
• 10 Fascinating Facts About the Thesaurus for National Thesaurus Day MF; 1/17/2019
• In defense of cheating at crossword puzzles use the Check button; 12/22/2018
• Hip to be square: the unlikely survival of the crossword
  Technology arrests the decline of a great British pastime; Econ; 11/8/2018
• How many words are there in English? MW
• about.com: 10. Looking Up Answers Is Cheating, Right?
• HSW 10: Use a Reference Book; Wonder 7. Outside Solving Help
• Word Buff: 5. Use Crossword Solving Resources

Applications

• see Summary above for examples
• CrosswordNexus: helper app iOS, Android
• Matt Ginsberg's Cluer Database App: Mac, Win, Lnx; free; no longer updated
• Terminology: Where Word Explorations Begin iOS, macOS; TB; 6/27/2019

Web Sites

• see Summary above for examples
• a2zwordfinder
• crosstips
• Crossword Giant search puzzles, clues, answers for: New York Times; Wall Street Journal;
  Universal; Jonesin'; USA Today; King Feature Syndicate: Thomas Joseph, Eugene Sheffer,
  Premier Sunday; Newsday; Ink Well; LA Times; Canadiana; A.V Club; Thinks.com; Boston Globe;
  Jonesin; Washington Post; Chronicle of Higher Education; Irish Times
• many similar clue/answer-only sites (same/other syndicated puzzles):
  AI Crossword Solver; *crosswordanswers.com; crosswordheaven.com; crosswordguru.com;
  crosswordtracker.com; dailyanswers.net; dailycrosswordsolver.com; globalclue.com; xword.com
• Crossword Nexus: Clue-Entry lookup; Puz To PDF Converter for printing; or you can use Across Lite app
• Crossword Quick Solve; More Words; Word Finder; WordAssault
• dictduck
• older: Ray Hamel: Tool Lists =36; American Crossword Tournament; Crossword Puzzles (UK)
• Will Johnston: 3 Online Dictionaries: Random House, Webster, OneLook
• MakeUseOf: 7 Quick Tools: One Across; AllWords; CrossTips;
  Crossword Clue Solver; Dictionary.com
• National Puzzlers' League Solving Tools; Dictionary Grep/Search
• Reverse Dictionary: enter a word, phrase, sentence, or pattern to search for related words
• Sporcle: Clue and Answer Search
• Time Traveler: when was a word first used in print?
• Unscramblerer
• whatsthisword
• Wikipedia: Aids to solve crosswords: Dictionaries (Anagram, Biographical, Rhyming);
  Almanacs; Encyclopedias; Gazetteers; Thesauri
• Wolfram Alpha anagram, scrabble, rhyming, letter pattern/combo, cryptogram, anagram
• Use Wolfram|Alpha to solve crossword puzzles
• word-buff: Word Finders: Scrabble; Crossword Puzzles; Vocabulary & Spelling
• Wordlisted
• wordover
• XWord Info New York Times Crossword Answers, Stats, Observations; some pages require registration
• Move Over, Wikipedia. Dictionaries Are Hot Again. NYT; 2/11/2017
• From Seussian To Snollygoster, Merriam-Webster Adds Over 1,000 New Words NPR; 2/8/2017
• Describing Words Finds Adjectives For the Noun You're Writing About Describing Words; LH; 11/27/2016
• Scouring the Web to Make New Words 'Lookupable'
  one million 'missing' English words not found in traditional dictionaries: wordnik.com; NYT; 10/3/2015
• Graphing the distribution of English letters towards the beginning, middle or end of words 5/27/2014
• Crossword puzzle square utilization analysis 3/11/2014

---

Summary | Quotes
Blogs: Major | Misc. | Cryptics | Example

---

Summary

• There are many (ever-changing) blogs and forums with insights from expert solvers
  about clues and themes; these often include links to puzzles and
  the entire (even annotated) solution -- if you get really stuck
• Available for newer, 'major' puzzles, e.g., in US: NYT, LAT, WSJ, Univ.
• Some newspapers provide directly, e.g., NYT:Wordplay, WSJ, WashPost (WaPo)
• For other puzzles, check blogs (below)
  or search for "crossword", including title, author, date, and/or unique clues
• 'Want to Join My Crossword Group Chat?'
  a new generation of crossword enthusiasts has changed the way that puzzles are discussed.
  And they are determined to make their pastime a space where all are welcome; 8/31/2021

Quotes

• About WordPlay (blog):... Welcome to our conversation about word games.
  Here you'll find a new blog post for each day's crossword plus a bonus post for the Variety puzzle.
  Along with discussion about the day's challenge, you'll get backstage insights about
  puzzlemaking and occasional notes from The Times's puzzlemaster, Will Shortz.
  ~wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com
• "crossworld":... a loose collection of people who analyze puzzles the way others
  do hip hop lyrics or fantasy novels -- kibitzers about every major puzzle published
  in newspapers and digital subscription services. (not a religious org)

Current, Major Blogs / Forums

• Introducing Gameplay
  replacing WordPlay -- more inclusive of our new features and games; daily crossword column; NYT; 2/18/2022
• Wordplay's Freelance Writing Guidelines
  puzzles, gaming and tournaments, wordplay and language;
  historical and cultural surveys of the gaming and language worlds; NYT; 8/24/2021
• Wordplay Crossword blog NYT; 10/27/2008 -
• XWordInfo.com New York Times Crossword Answers, Stats, Observations;
  try Analyze mode; some pages ($); 1/1/1981 - 11/2023?
• XWord Info info
  discussion about xwordinfo.com, and about crossword puzzles in general -- not puzzles of the day
• Diary of a Crossword Fiend: NYT, LAT, Universal, BEQ, New Yorker, Fireball,
  AVCX, Xword Nation, Reagle; Amy Renaldo; 12/28/2009 - [right: download puzzles]
• NYXCrossword.com NYT; William Butler; 2014 -;
  WEB@NYTCrossword.com (archive); 2009-2015
• Rex Parker does the NYT Crossword 9/25/2006 -;
  Michael Sharp; Professor moonlights as crossword master
• Horace and Frances Discuss The New York Times Crossword Puzzle 2013 -
• NYT solvers' podcasts: Jean & Mike Do The NYT Crossword;
  videos: Solve with Steve!; Solve with Me: The Goosiverbalist
  The Daily Solve with Chris Remo; Robert vs the NYTXW
• Cruciverb: database & Crossword Community Center; [right: puzzles]
  Forum: Solving: Today's Puzzles (mostly LAT) [free account]
• Kevin McCann creator of cruciverb.com; 2014
• LA Times (LAT): Crossword Corner 2008 -
• LAXCrossword.com LAT; William Butler; 2014 -
• Sally's Take on the USA Today Crossword
• XWord Muggles Forum discuss WSJ Weekly Crossword Contest (4/2019), other "meta"-style crosswords
• discord.com: Crosscord: Spoiler Channels:
  NYT, WSJ, LAT, New Yorker, USA Today, Universal, AVCX, WaPo, Boswords, Other [on right]
• Reddit discussion threads

Misc., Older Blogs

• Some answer-only blogs, e.g., NYT; Newsday; Newsday (2018-2019);
  Daily Crossword Answer: Canadiana, CHE, Jonesin, Joseph, LAT, Newsday, NYT, New Yorker,
  Premier, Sheffer, Univ., WashPost, WSJ; Guardian, Irish Times, The Sun, The Times, Telegraph
• American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (blog list)
• NYT Crossword in Gothic 3/2007 - 8/2015
• An Ex-Englishman Solves American Puzzles NPR; Ross Beresford (Crossword Man); 2009-2016
• CrosswordKathy: solving the Sun NYT so you don't have to Kathy Matheson; 3/8/2009 - 7/2014
• Eric & Abbie Fix the NYT Crossword 11/28/2010 - 6/3/2012
• Madness...Crossword and Otherwise Linda G.; 4/16/2007 - 6/24/2008
• A Journal of Crossword Database Management: the autofill project 4/2013 - 3/2014;
  life as a puzzle McClary; 3/2014 -
• Man vs. Puzzle Sean; (guy solves New York Times crossword, writes about it, saves world); 12/2013 - 2014
• LAT: Crossword Confidential Rex Parker; 2009-2011
• Puzzly Blog NYT, Reagle, Newsday, et al; 11/2013 - 3/2014
• Not A Blog Okay Maybe It Is; puzzle times; Dan Feyer; 2008 -
• Devil Cross 2014-2018
• Ryan & Brian Do Crosswords 2008-2011
• Sun Blocks New York Sun; 2008-2009
• New Grids on the Block New Yorker, indies; 2015-2018
• Crossword Crossing Puzzle Society; Steinberg; 2018
• National Puzzlers League
• Further Adventures of Jim Horne -2016
• CrosswordCity Gorski; -2011; CrosswordNation -2017
• Puzzlehead E. Peterson; -2017
• All for Words and Words for All Mackey brothers; -2016
• NYT Crossword Drawings

Cryptic Blogs

• BestForPuzzles: blog links
• Big Dave's Crossword Blog The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph; older?
• Cru Cryptic Archive NYT 'Cru' Forums
• fifteensquared: Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, Inquisitor
• Guardian 2011 -
• The Hindu Crossword Corner India; CrosswordUnclued
• The Nation Cryptic Crossword Forum 7/2012 - 8/2015
• National Post Canada
• The Times: thetimescrosswordanswers, Times for the Times

Annotated Example: NYT 1/23/2011

• NYT WordPlay: constructor intro, reader comments
• Rex Parker does the NYT Crossword
• NYTCrossword
• NYT Crossword in Gothic
• XWord Info
• CrosswordKathy doing the Sun NYT so you don't have to
• Diary of a Crossword Fiend
• Eric & Abbie Fix the NYT Crossword

---

References: General | Puns & Anagrams | Cryptics | Artificial Intelligence(AI)

---

General

• later section: Authoring: Submission Guidelines
• One crossword-solver's enthusiasm inspired an entire TikTok subculture
  How Katie Grogg created the purest puzzling community: @coffeeandcrosswords; 11/7/2021
• The best crossword-solving tactics reflect life's best lessons
  Practice makes perfect, or Try, try again.
  Make no assumptions and consider all angles;
  -- in other words, a single word can have several meanings
  Be a lifelong learner. Take your time and check your work.
  Be willing to take chances. Get back to basics. Details matter; 2/9/2021
• How to Conquer the New York Times Crossword Puzzle Amy Reynaldo; book; 1/31/2021
• Will Shortz's Tips for... Beginners video: 1:22; Pros video: 0:45; NYT; 11/8/2012
• How to Be the Fastest Puzzler in Town Shortz; 3/10/2002
• How to Solve the NYT Crossword Puzzle Shortz; NYT; 4/8/2001
• NYT Style & Conventions; Trivia puzzle about NYT construction [JS; .pdf]
• How to Solve Crossword Puzzles Puzzazz: Lewis and Leban
• Easy Crosswords For Seniors For Dummies Cheat Sheet
• HSW: Top 10 Tips for Solving Crossword Puzzles
• Word Buff: How to Solve Crossword Puzzles; about.com 10 Tips
• Crossword Phrase Dictionary: Tips
• Free Resources for Solving Crosswords; Puzzletome Crossword Tutorial
• BarelyBad: Diagramless Crossword Puzzles; tutorial
• How to Solve Crossword Puzzles: WonderHowTo video: 1:23; Howcast video: 1:23
• How to Idiot's Secret Guide to Mastering Crossword Puzzles
• How To Dominate the New York Times Crossword Puzzle
• Beginner's guide to solving crosswords Electricka
• How to Get Better at Crosswords LH; 2/15/2019
• Complete Idiot's Guide to Crosswords by Matt Gaffney
• Books for Crossword Puzzle Solving
• Crossword Rules 5/10/2004

NYT Puns & Anagrams (aka 'PandAs')

• PandAs use a subset of cryptic-style clue types,
  but since they're fully-crossed, they may be easier to solve. Examples:
• WP blog NYT; 4/21/2018
• WP blog NYT; 2/24/2018
• WP blog Will Shortz; NYT; 1/28/2017
• WP blog NYT; 9/24/2016
• WP blog NYT; 8/1/2015

Cryptics

• ChatGPT vs a cryptic crossword 2022
• Links for Cryptic Crosswords, Variety Word Puzzles, and Logic Puzzles 6/1/2022
• What makes a crossword cryptic? one-sheet solving guide; 3/24/2022
• The Puzzling Story of How Cryptic Crosswords Crossed the Atlantic 1/17/2022
• Beastly Clues: T. S. Eliot, Torquemada, and the Modernist Crossword 1/12/2022
• about.com: Diagramless Crosswords: A Tutorial
• Always Puzzling blog; American vs British crosswords grids, clues; 1/10/2013
• The Atlantic: Puzzler Instructions Atl; 1999
• AVCX: Cryptic Solving Guide .pdf; American Values Club Crossword; Francis Heaney; 6/2020
• Cryptic crosswords: A puzzling British obsession BBC; 3/3/2021
• How to Get Started in Cryptic Crosswords Patrick Berry; 9/13/2019
• BestForPuzzles
• Biddlecombe: Yet Another Guide to Cryptic Crosswords
• Introduction Includes a quick description of cryptic puzzles, an instant history and some terminology
• Clue Types A list of the clue types used in cryptic puzzles
• Solving tips General advice about solving puzzles
• The bad and the ugly What makes a bad cryptic crossword?
• Puzzle sources Where to find good cryptic puzzles, and information about some famous setters
• Internet stuff Some resources for solvers
• UK references Some assistance with cricket terminology, names of British rivers, and other stuff likely to baffle non-Brits
• Big Dave's Crossword Blog
• Learning To Juggle Cryptic Crosswords thebrowser.com; interactive
• Clue Clinic: Codes Used In Cryptic Crosswords: Abbreviations and Indicators word indicators for 'wordplay' type
• CrosswordAcademy.com
• Crossword Genius an app (from unlikely.ai) containing an AI, Ross, who can solve and explain
  even the most difficult cryptic crossword clues. The app also uses state-of-the-art machine vision
  to read in crosswords found in newspapers via the smartphone camera and allow solving on your device
• Crossword Haikus as cryptic clues; 5/8/2019
• CrosswordTools.com: introduction to cryptic crosswords
• CrosswordUnclued.com:
• for Beginners
• Tackling Cryptic Crosswords: 7-Step Guide For Beginners 8/2008
• More Tips For Solving Cryptic Crosswords 8/2009
• Which Crosswords Should You Solve? 8/2009
• Abbreviations Every Solver Must Know 10/2008
• How To Spot Anagrams 8/2008
• Digging Out Hidden Words 8/2008
• Charades 11/2008
• Containers 2/2009
• Reversals 11/2008
• Decoding Double Definitions 10/2008
• Tuning In To Homophones 10/2008
• Deletions 3/2009
• Substitutions Simplified 12/2008
• Acrostics 9/2008
• Letter Picking 4/2009
• Letter Shifting 12/2009
• Letter Exchange 12/2009
• Cryptic Definitions 12/2008
• &lit, Literally So 8/2008
• Surface Reading, Cryptic Reading 6/2009
• Agent Nouns In Crosswords 11/2008
• Cricket And Cryptic Crosswords 11/2008
• Crosswords & The Game Of Bridge 11/2010
• Features Of The Crossword Grid 9/2009
• Clue Annotation Shortcodes 1/2013
• advanced: Cryptic Gymnastics
• Elision, and questions of fairness 11/2011
• The significance of apostrophe-S 4/2010
• Reverse anagrams 6/2010
• How to interpret punctuation in clues 8/2010
• Ellipsis-linked clues... 5/2010
• Tricky Indicators 4/2009
• About "about" 3/2009
• Palindromes 7/2009
• Wordplay Inversion 1/2009
• Have no enemy but time 3/2010
• Do the math to solve these clues 7/2010
• Connectors: How much is too much? 7/2009
• Fandom. Comparison of cryptic crosswords difficulty ranked by source
• Fifteensquared.net blog
• Games World: How To Solve a Cryptic Crossword video: 1:21:21; 8/19/2020
• Globe and Mail: solving the online crossword
• Guardian; Cryptic crosswords for beginners: [series]; articles:
• Money 1/15/2024
• Jobs 10/2/2023
• Meet the letter O/a> 9/4/2023
• Replacing one thing with another 8/22/2023
• Unpicking the dress codes 7/3/2023
• dot dot what? ellipsis; 6/5/2023
• Writers 4/3/2023
• One to a hundred -- when clues use the % sign 3/20/2023
• Mind the gap -- when clues get completely heartless remove middle letters; 1/23/2023
• Solving mysteries of ambiguity and coincidence 10/10/2022
• A little bit of politics abbreviations from the corridors of power; 9/19/2022
• Meet the letter N 8/22/2022
• Points of the compass for beginners, part 2 6/20/2022
• The states of the US 5/23/2022
• Examples of examples 4/25/2022
• Middle letters 3/28/2022
• Boys and Girls 3/14/2022
• From Inspector Morse to Barbara Windsor, it's all Latin to me 1/31/2022
• End points from Land's End to verbal bottoms 10/25/2021
• Meet the letter M 9/27/2021
• Is it OK to 'cheat' when solving puzzles? 3/29/2021
• Cryptic definitions 3/15/2021
• Cryptics in America No 2 11/5/2020
• First and last letters 10/5/2020
• Doctors 9/21/2020
• Newspapers 8/12/2020
• Naked words 6/29/2020
• Royal abbreviations 5/4/2020
• Crossword roundup: fancy learning cryptic crosswords during coronavirus lockdown? 3/30/2020
• Sailors and boats 2/10/2020
• Playing cards 11/12/2019
• Taking most of a word 10/28/2019
• Points of the compass what to do when the clue refers to ‘north’, ‘south’, etc.; 8/12/2019
• stuttering in clues 7/29/2019
• cycling clues 5/27/2019
• cities 3/18/2019
• Rivers 2/19/2019
• Seven great clues from the first 1,000 quiptic crosswords 1/21/2019
• Cars 10/29/2018
• Cryptozoology 10/1/2018
• Music 9/17/2018
• Meet the letter L 7/31/2017
• Greek alphabet 7/17/2017
• NATO alphabet 2/13/2017
• Alcohol 1/30/2017
• Elementary chemistry 12/14/2016
• Meet the letter K 8/1/2016
• Capital letters 3/21/2016
• Foreign affairs 2/1/2016
• Drugs 12/15/2015
• Howzat! cricket; 11/16/2015
• Revving it up 5/4/2015
• Meeting the letter J 4/20/2015
• Apostophes 2/16/2015
• Me, you, her, him 2/2/2015
• Roman numerals 1/19/2015
• Crack 10 of our clues 9/12/2014
• My, myself, I 11/18/2013
• Alternate letters 1/17/2013
• Palindromes 11/1/2012
• Cryptics in America 7/19/2012
• Backwards clues 7/5/2012
• Which papers are easiest? 5/31/2012
• Containers 4/19/2012
• Spoonerisms 3/1/2012
• Initial letters 1/27/2012
• Soundalikes 12/8/2011
• What does 'A' mean and what means 'A'? 11/24/2011
• Double definitions 11/17/2011
• Hidden answers 10/6/2011
• General handy tips 5/3/2010
• IndigoExtra.com: How to Solve Cryptic Crosswords
• Lovatt's Cryptic Tutorial (video)
• How to solve the New Scientist cryptic crossword NS; 3/13/2020
• New Yorker: Reintroducing The New Yorker’s Cryptic Crossword
  video & interactive clue guide: Anagram, Hidden Word, Homophone, Double Definition,
  Assemblage (Charade), Deletion, Reversal, Container, Bits and Pieces, Multiple; NYkr; 11/26/2019
• How to Solve Our Puzzle Glenn Eichler humorously explains the rules of a cryptic crossword; NYr; 1/12/2019
• PennyDell: How to Solve Cryptics .pdf; 3/2019
• Solving Cryptics: Types of Clues
• Sondheim: How to Do a Real Crossword Puzzle
  Or What's a Four-letter Word for "East Indian Betel Nut" and Who Cares? 4/8/1968
• How to Get Started in Cryptic Crosswords 9/13/2019
• Fifty years of The Spectator crossword 7/3/2021
• Here's a clue: we should all be doing cryptic crosswords Spectator; 3/13/2021
• Spectator: Why do the British love cryptic crosswords? 11/16/2013
• Time to get wise about cryptic crosswords: your how-to solve guide SMH; 4/10/2020
• Crosswords and Clue Types Teazel; 10/22/2014
• How to spot a Spoonerism 3/15/2023
• The Telegraph Crossword gets a new regular setter Robyn; Tel; 2/8/2023
• The compiler's arsenal: our final set of tips for solving cryptic crosswords from our puzzles editor 4/19/2020
• Juggling with words: more tips on solving cryptic crosswords from our puzzles editor 4/5/2020
• How to solve a cryptic crossword: tips for beginners from our puzzles editor part 1; 3/9/2020
• Telegraph: Cracking cryptic crosswords: why juggling with words is easier than you think Tel; 6/29/2019
• Theresa's Solving Guide
• Times for the Times blog
• NYT: Conquering the Times of London Cryptic Crossword 6/30/2017
• H2G2: How to Solve 'The Times' Crossword 6/4/2001
• Wikipedia: How cryptic clues work; Types of cryptic clues:
  Anagrams, Charade, Containers, Deletions, Double definition, Hidden words, Initial letters,
  Odd/even letters, Homophones, Reversals, Cryptic definition, Spoonerism
• WonderHowTo: Complete a cryptic crossword puzzle video: 8:17
• WSJ: Guide to Cryptic Crosswords [.pdf]
• Ximenes On The Art Of The Crossword 1966
• Decrypting the Cryptic:
  #1: Charades; #2: Anagrams; #3: Containers; #4: Hidden Words; #5: The Basics;
  #6: Double Definitions; #7: Reversals; #8: Homophones; #9: When to stop and try again;
  #10: Beheadings et al.; #11: Letter Banks; #12: Beginnings and Endings; #13: Drop It!;
  #14: The Cryptic Alphabet; #15: &lit.! Stella Zawistowski; Tough as Nails; 6/2020

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• "I, for one, welcome our new computer overlords." ~Ken Jennings, on Jeopardy, quoting from The Simpsons
• AI Crossword Solver: clue lookup
• WebCrow: Wikipedia;
  WebCrow 2.0 site How It Works; AI vs Human: Can You Compete with WebCrow?; Resources: News, Papers, Docs; Game Platform
• How I built a New York Times Crossword Puzzle Trainer GPT called CrossTrainer Medium; 11/30/2023
• Can an AI chatbot solve a [cryptic] crossword better than a human? We put it to the test Tel; 3/6/2023
• How to Access ChatGPT From Your Mac's Menu Bar MacGPT; MR; 3/3/2023
• ChatGPT vs a cryptic crossword 2022
• Automated Crossword Solving ACL 2022 paper; 7/3/2022;
  Berkeley Crossword Solver: demo; source code
• 'WebCrow 2.0' AI can solve crosswords in two languages English, Italian; Eng; 6/9/2022
• Neural Crossword Solver Outperforms Humans for the First Time
  Berkeley Crossword Solver at ACPT; AI-enhanced algorithm still trails humans at cryptic crosswords; Disc; 5/25/2022
• Putting in a Good Word: GPU-Powered Crossword Solver Makes Best Showing Yet Against Humans 5/28/2021
• What a Crossword AI Reveals About Humans' Way With Words Wired; 5/6/2021
• 'I was terrible at crosswords so I built an AI to do them' BBC; 5/2/2021
• An A.I. Finally Won an Elite Crossword Tournament (ACPT)
  Its name is Dr. Fill, and it isn't allowed to keep the prize money; Slate; 4/27/2021
• Google's 'Semantic Experiences' let you play word games with its AI web experiments:
  Google Books search, Semantris; TC; 4/13/2018
• Clue to 15-Across: Crossword Puzzle Solver (22 Letters)—Artificial Intelligence deep language learning; 5/17/2016
• Can An Astrophysicist Change The Way We Watch Sports? Matt Ginsberg, OR author of Dr.Fill; 538; 10/27/2015
• In Crosswords, It's Man Over Machine, for Now Dr.Fill finishes 141 out of 600+ entrants; 3/18/2012
• The Computer's Next Conquest: Crosswords ("Dr.Fill" at ACPT 2012); NYT; 3/17/2012
• Fast Talk: How "Dr.Fill" Does For Crosswords What IBM's "Watson" Did On "Jeopardy!" 3/12/2012
• Why Computers Can't Make It as Stand-Up Comics 3/13/2011
• What Is Artificial Intelligence? (Jeopardy & Watson); NYT; 2/6/2011
• Jeopardy, IBM, and Wolfram|Alpha 1/26/2011
• Crossword Puzzle Generator Darren Cheng, Nimit Dhulekar; .pdf; 3/13/2009
• Quackle
  world-class crossword game artificial intelligence and analysis tool. It includes a move generator, simulator,
  and Qt-based user interface and can be used with any board layout, alphabet, lexicon, and tile distribution; 2006?
• WebCrow: a WEB-based system for CROssWord solving .pdf; 2005
• Solving Crossword Puzzles via the Google API
  The API enables software agents to query and use search results from the large collections of data available
  via the Google search engine. Web searches using Google are exposed to over 4 billion pages, many of which
  are cached within Google. While the Google API may be used to produce customized user interfaces to Google,
  the API also provides direct programmatic access to the subset of the Web covered by Google.
  In this paper, we present a fresh approach to solving crossword puzzles by making use of the Google API.
  Our system, the Google CruciVerbalist (GCV), reads XML-encoded crossword puzzles, derives answers
  to clues via the Google API, and uses a refined depth-first search algorithm to populate the crossword grid.
  GCV has successfully solved smaller puzzles, especially ones containing pop-culture and fill-in-the-blank
  types of clues. Based on this ongoing work, limitations of current search technologies are identified.
  To overcome these limitations, we look ahead to semantic queries via the emerging Semantic Web,
  including techniques using RDF that augment the Google search engine with semantic information,
  enabling semantically rich queries beyond the current capabilities of Google; 1/2004
• A probabilistic approach to solving crossword puzzles 2002
• Solving diagramless crossword puzzles 11/1994
• Crossword Clue Solver
• Crossword Genius app for solving cryptics from unlikely.ai
• Solving Cryptic Crossword Clues by Computer William Tunstall-Pedoe
• American Assoc. of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI): Crossword Puzzles. Intro, Readings, Resources

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