Mini to Maestro, Part 1: Crosswords for Beginners (Published 2022) (2024)

Advertisem*nt

SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

Supported by

SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT

Get started solving the Mini, Monday and Tuesday puzzles.

By Jackie Frere and Isaac Aronow

Published Sept. 19, 2022Updated Oct. 7, 2022

This is Part 1 of a three-part series on learning to solve crossword puzzles. Be sure to check out Part 2 and Part 3.

Here’s a not-so-well-kept secret for you: Everyone can solve the New York Times Crossword.

If you’re already rolling your eyes, take it from us: Jackie Frere, community engagement manager, and Isaac Aronow, associate editor of Gameplay. Jackie was someone who had tried the Monday crossword once, failed, got embarrassed and gave up completely. Isaac has been solving for a while but fell out of practice at the start of the pandemic. We challenged ourselves to see if we could start fresh and complete a Saturday New York Times Crossword in the matter of weeks. Spoiler alert: We did.

In case you didn’t know, the daily New York Times Crossword has a difficulty curve as the week goes on. Monday is the easiest puzzle, and then Tuesday is a little harder, climbing up to Saturday, which is the hardest day of the week. Sunday puzzles are sometimes asserted to be the most difficult puzzle of the week, but much of that difficulty comes from the larger size of Sunday puzzles, rather than the clues, the answers or the themes.

The Mini doesn’t have a difficulty curve like the daily crossword, so how tricky it is depends more on the individual puzzle you do, rather than the day of the week it runs on. Minis rarely include advanced solving elements like a rebus (more on those later) but will often include intermediate solving elements that are common in midweek puzzles. If you’re comfortable solving minis, we suggest that you’ll be comfortable solving daily crosswords up to Wednesday.

It takes time, practice and a little help from the Games team, but you too can solve a Monday puzzle and, eventually, a Saturday crossword. Let us show you how.

Jackie likes to fill in answers she knows and work her way around a grid. Remember that everyone approaches crossword puzzles differently.

She immediately knew that the answer to “Zero” was NIL.

She remembered the sugary treats she had as a kid, the answer to 7-Across: HOHOS. It’s important to note that if the clue is plural, the answer will be too.

Jackie wasn’t positive about her answers for 8-Across and 1-Down, so she skipped to 2 down, where she could easily infer that the answer was IDAHO.

After filling in DUH for 5-Down, Jackie went back to her across answers. From there things fell into place. She recalled that UNAGI was “Eel, on a sushi menu.”

To fill in the last letter, she relied on the first trick we talked about. The clue “Taboos” is plural, so the answer must be plural!

1 of 6

Your first crossword puzzle can be daunting, but let’s go through it together. Have some fun! Jackie went through all of the Across clues quickly and filled in what she knew off the top of her head.

Let’s go over some key clues. “___, Brute?” from 58-Down is asking the solver to fill in the quote. You may recognize it from Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar.” The answer is ETTU.

After solving the Across and Down clues that she knew right off the bat, it was time to go around again. Jackie inferred that 18-Across was TEAGARDEN after only needing to fill in two squares.

You may not know the entire answer, you may know the trick. Thirty-four down has a plural clue, therefore a plural answer. Add the “S” in at the end and see if the answer comes to you.

This is where Jackie went back around from the start. With new letters added, she saw the clues in new ways. 19- Down came to her immediately after she saw the “A” and “E.” ALES! Then, 20-Across appeared: EXPANDED ROLE.

Fixing a typo also led her to learn that 46-Down was COAX, and 49-Across was ESTO, not ESTE. When a clue is asking “in Spanish” or another language, the answer will be in that language.

Jackie got a bit stuck on the left hand side, so she took a 15 minute break. When she came back, 42 across, EELS, and 35-across, I MEAN, stuck out to her. The rest just fell into place. Sam was right about walking away!

In all, this took Jackie 15 minutes to complete, without adding in the break. Congratulations on completing your first daily puzzle!

1 of 8

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit andlog intoyour Times account, orsubscribefor all of The Times.