Tips For Understanding Crossword Clues
It can be hard to understand a crossword clue because crossword-writers are absolutely notorious for being cryptic. A good crossword player is typically a master riddle-solver, as one has to really think outside of the box to figure out some of these more difficult hints. Here are a few crossword-solving tips:
Where Is There A Theme
Themes can be placed anywhere in the crossword grid, depending on the creativity of the puzzle constructor. But most commonly it will be in the longest Across and Down entries.
Lets look at one type of easy theme you might see in a Monday puzzle.
The entries BOULDER DAM, ROCK LOBSTER, PEBBLE BEACH and DUST JACKET all involve some sort of stone and the size of the stone gets smaller as you go from the top of the grid to the bottom. Below is how these answers were clued in this puzzle. The theme clues are pretty straightforward fittingly for a Monday puzzle although the clue for DUST JACKET is playing with us. Even so, its not that hard, especially if you work the crossings.
- BOULDER DAM: Colorado River landmark dedicated by F.D.R.
- ROCK LOBSTER: Novelty B-52’s song with the lyric Watch out for that piranha
- PEBBLE BEACH: California locale of several golf U.S. Opens
- DUST JACKET: One covering a big story?
Most solvers dont fill in a theme entry without first solving some of the crossings, so dont worry if you dont know them right off the bat. But do notice that these particular entries cover a range of topics: Topography, pop culture, sports and, well, a pun about book covers. Theres something for nearly everyone.
In this puzzle, the theme entries were clued to make you think. They describe the punny phrase, not the one its based on, so its up to you to figure that out. Heres how this puzzled was clued:
How To Get Started
Solving crosswords eliminates worries. They make you a calmer and more focused person. Will Shortz, New York Times crossword editor and NPR puzzle master.
If youve ever picked up a crossword puzzle and said to yourself, I am not smart enough or I dont have a big enough vocabulary for this, please allow us to let you in on a little secret:
A crossword puzzle is not a test of intelligence, and solving is not really about the size of your vocabulary. Becoming a good solver is about understanding what the clues are asking you to do.
You can absolutely learn to do that. Were here to let you in on some of the rules that most clues follow, and to teach you how to read those clues so that they become easier to solve. It would be impossible to cover every instance of clueing, but we can get you up and running.
Weve even included some tips and encouragement from the puzzle pros to help keep you motivated, like our very funny friend, Megan Amram, a writer for television shows like The Simpsons and The Good Place. Ms. Amram is a devoted solver and has also made a puzzle that ran in The New York Times.
Got it? Now lets get started.
First, decide how you want to solve: Are you a print-only person? Do you enjoy the extra help that comes from playing on the web or on-the-go with the app? If you subscribe, you get access to all the daily puzzles and the archive. And once you log in, you can save your progress across all the digital platforms.
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The 30 Most Common Crossword Answers Every Word Puzzle Fan Should Know
Crossword-writers are known for their wit, subtlety, and wordplay. Crossword-solvers are frequently known for scratching their heads in confusion at out-of-date or uncommon terms that are used because they so often make a great fit on the board. These crossword quiz answers might not be used in everyday speech, but theyre used often in crossword puzzles. In fact, theres a word to describe this: crosswordese. These are the top 30 most commonly used crossword clue answers.
Newspapers With Free Online Crossword Puzzles
- New York Times Crossword: Answers for this world-famous puzzle get more difficult to figure out throughout the week, with the easiest on Monday, the hardest on Saturday, and a larger, more iconic puzzle with a moderate difficulty level on Sunday. Theyre frequently themed. You can download an app for the NYT mini-crossword thats a lot of fun as well.
- LA Times Crossword: Solution-finding is just as hard with this paper, originally founded in 1881. People frequently ask, What are the answers to todays LA Times crossword?
- USA Today Crossword: Besides free crosswords, USA Today also offers other games, like sudoku and mahjong.
- Washington Post Crossword: Their daily crosswords are free and fun to play. They also have a Monthly Meta Crossword thats themed.
- WSJ Crossword: The Wall Street Journals puzzles are, in their words, Americas most elegant, adventurous, and addictive crosswords. Theyre frequently themed and can be quite difficult to figure out crossword solutions for.
- AARP Crossword: AARP members can compete for top scores.
- Boston Globe Crossword: This New England newspaper has its own fun crossword puzzle game.
- Newsday Crossword: One man, Stan Newman, has been editing these puzzles for more than 30 years.
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Practice Makes If Not Perfect A Much Better Solver
Once youve learned some of the shorter answers and how they are clued, you can almost be sure youll see them again. The brain works in weird and wonderful ways, and when you start solving crosswords consistently, you will feel really good when you can say, Hey, I know that one!
Do more puzzles. The more you solve, the better youll get. Its also useful to read Wordplay and other puzzle blogs, which helped me internalize the tricks and tropes of crossword clues while I was learning the ropes. — Dan Feyer, seven-time champion of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
And dont worry if you make a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. Thats what erasers and the backspace key are for. It even happens to advanced solvers, so dont let it get you down if you dont know something or need to change an answer.
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 dont 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
Make Blank Crossword Clue
Below you may find the answer for: Make blank crossword clue. This clue was last seen on Wall Street Journal Crossword October 4 2021 Answers In case the clue doesnt fit or theres something wrong please let us know and we will get back to you. If you are looking for older Wall Street Journal Crossword Puzzle Answers then we highly recommend you to visit our archive page where you can find all past puzzles.
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Who Will : : : The Cat Crossword Clue
If you are looking for Who will ___ the cat? crossword clue answers and solutions then you have come to the right place. This crossword clue was last seen today on Daily Themed Crossword Puzzle. In case you are stuck and are looking for help then this is the right place because we have just posted the answer below. You can use the search functionality on the right sidebar to search for another crossword clue and the answer will be shown right away.
Who will ___ the cat?BELL
Already found the solution for Who will ___ the cat? crossword clue? Click here to go back to the main post and find other answers Daily Themed Crossword January 30 2021 Answers.
Clues That Use Heteronyms
Tip: Weve saved the most confounding type of clue for last. Some clues use heteronyms to misdirect you.
Heteronyms are two or more words that are spelled identically but have different pronunciations and meanings, like minute , which is a unit of time, and minute , which might mean tiny.
Imagine how much that unique facet of language enthralls our puzzle makers and editors. And they use it to their advantage.This might not seem completely fair, but if youve been learning the tricks to understanding the clues in the rest of this guide, its well within the bounds of fairness. You just have to learn to think like a constructor.
How about a short quiz to help you figure this out? Here are some particularly sneaky heteronym examples and the number of letters in their answers. Wed like you to guess those answers. You might want to spend some time staring at them until the heteronym reveals itself.
Remember, question everything. Dont allow any word to go unexamined.
Heteronym Clues
Are you getting the hang of this yet? These are not easy, but keep staring, because that Aha! moment is really worth it.
Still stuck? Here are the answers with the reasoning behind them:
Answers
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How Do You Solve Crossword Puzzles
Lets split up how to do a crossword puzzle into in the basic steps as well as some pro tips.
Start With The Monday Puzzles
The Monday New York Times Crosswords are the easiest, and the puzzles get harder as the week goes on. Solve as many of the Mondays as you can before pushing yourself to Tuesday puzzles. You can thank us later.
This is probably a beginning solvers most common mistake.You know what its like: You have some downtime on a Saturday and you look around for something to pass the time. Your officemate keeps bragging about his ability to finish The New York Times Crossword. You hate your officemate.
So, not to be outdone, you pick up the paper or download our app and turn to the Saturday puzzle. How hard could it be?
The Saturday crossword is actually the hardest puzzle of the week. Mondays have the most straightforward clues and Saturday clues are the hardest, or involve the most wordplay. Contrary to popular belief, the Sunday puzzles are midweek difficulty, not the hardest. Theyre just bigger.
A typical Monday clue will be very straightforward and drive you almost directly to the answer. Dont believe us?
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Peak Performance Crossword Clue
Below you may find the answer for: Peak performance? crossword clue. This clue was last seen on Wall Street Journal Crossword October 1 2021 Answers In case the clue doesnt fit or theres something wrong please let us know and we will get back to you. If you are looking for older Wall Street Journal Crossword Puzzle Answers then we highly recommend you to visit our archive page where you can find all past puzzles.
Take A Break If You Get Stuck
Were big fans of the brain here, especially its incredible work ethic. But even brains get tired, so if you are stuck at some point in the puzzle, one of the best things you can do is put it down and take a break from it for a while.
Im not sure how this works, but your brain will continue working on the clue in the background while you go about your day. When you come back to it, you might be surprised at the Aha! moment you experience when you thought you didnt know the answer.
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The Best Crossword Apps
- Word Crossy: Cheats for Word Crossy can be found with our crossword-solver tool. Imagine crosswords but with coin collection and competition.
- Crosswords With Friends: Its like Words With Friends but with a crossword puzzle instead!
- One Clue Crossword: Answers can be difficult to figure out when you only get one clue, which is typically a picture.
- CodyCross: A fun app thats not quite Scrabble or a crossword, CodyCross is an updated version of the classic word puzzle. See our special cheats for winning at CodyCross for help.
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary Crossword: The dictionary has a ton of word games, and this is just one of them.
- Worlds Biggest Crossword: Help yourself to the most popular crossword app in the App Store.
- Wordscapes: Another app thats not completely simple crosswords but more of a mix, Wordscapes is a lot of fun and great for people who arent great spellers.
- Shortyz: Chose from all the big-name newspaper crosswords online in one app.
Where To Play Crossword Games Online
Heres a quick overview of the best free crossword puzzles that you can find online, either on mobile devices or your desktop. We recommend playing on a tablet that way, its easier to read most crossword puzzle games. Free puzzles can be found with difficulties ranging from easy to hard. For instance, one can find pretty easy online crossword puzzles from USA Today, but if you really want a hard puzzle, pick the New York Times crossword on Saturday.
Remember that if you get stuck on your daily crossword, answers can be found easily with our clue-finder!
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: : : Picchu Unesco World Heritage Site In Peru That Was Featured In The Film The Motorcycle Diaries Crossword Clue
Please find below all the ___ Picchu UNESCO World Heritage site in Peru that was featured in the film The Motorcycle Diaries crossword clue .This is a very popular crossword app where you will find hundreds of packs for you to play. Since you are already here then chances are you are having difficulties with ___ Picchu UNESCO World Heritage site in Peru that was featured in the film The Motorcycle Diaries crossword clue so look no further because below we have listed all the Daily Themed Crossword Answers for you!
Daily Themed Crossword Cat : : : Tales
Hello everyone! Thank you visiting our website, here you will be able to find all the answers for Daily Themed Crossword Game.Daily Themed Crossword is the new wonderful word game developed by PlaySimple Games, known by his best puzzle word games on the android and apple store.A fun crossword game with each day connected to a different theme. Choose from a range of topics like Movies, Sports, Technology, Games, History, Architecture and more!Access to hundreds of puzzles, right on your Android device, so play or review your crosswords when you want, wherever you want!Give your brain some exercise and solve your way through brilliant crosswords published every day!Increase your vocabulary and general knowledge. Become a master crossword solver while having tons of fun, and all for free!The answers are divided into several pages to keep it clear.This page contains answers to puzzle 4d. “Cat ___ Tales” .
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Use The Crossings Luke
Tip: You can confirm whether an answer is right by solving the entries that cross it.
Lets look at an example of why it pays to work those crossings. You might not see this in a Monday puzzle, but say the clue is Black Halloween animal, and you have confidently written in CAT.
Then you look at the entry that crosses the first letter of CAT and the clue is Honest ___ . The answer to that one is ABE, so CAT must be wrong.
Now what do you do?
Stay flexible and remember that a BAT is also a black Halloween animal. Yes, its tricky, but its doable.
Conversely, you can also work your way through an answer that you cant get completely by solving the crossings. Once you have enough letters filled in, take your best guess based on the pattern of letters youve uncovered.
The key to solving crosswords is mental flexibility. If one answer doesnt seem to be working out, try something else. Will Shortz
How To Be An Expert Crossword Puzzle
Want to become the ultimate crossword puzzle-solver? Let us help you find answers to crossword puzzles with our online crossword-solver, whether you have a word on the tip of your tongue or just need one clue. Crossword puzzle answers for today can be found easily, so you dont have to wait for the next days newspaper or cheat on an app to find out the solutions. Use this crossword helper to enter crossword clues, search for specific words by the number of letters, or read our guide to learn new, different strategies for solving your daily crossword. Help is finally here in our ultimate guide to crossword puzzle-solving!
Our ultimate guide has everything, like where to find crossword games, how to solve crosswords, the most common crossword clues and answers, and other fun facts about Americas favorite word-puzzle game. Nothing is more maddening than a crossword clue thats difficult to understand, but dont worry! Enter that tricky crossword puzzle clue into our tool and youll find yourself in crossword heaven!
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