Fill-in-the-blank questions are typically easiest. Usually, you’ll see a common idiom, phrase, or pop culture reference that’s only missing one section. Keep in mind, though, that non-native English speakers might struggle with this because phrases can be so regional and colloquial; see this list of common idioms if you’re struggling. Enter the known letters in their locations.You need to know at least one of the letters to make a word that might fit. LA Times Crossword: Solution-finding is just as hard with this paper, originally founded in 1881. People frequently ask, “What are the answers to today’s LA Times crossword?” On Dec. 21, 1913, in a Sunday edition of The New York World, the first-ever “word-cross” puzzle appeared. The first-ever cruciverbalist, or person skilled in the creation or solving of crossword puzzles, was a journalist named Arthur Wynne from Liverpool, who’d immigrated to the states. A few weeks after the first word puzzle of its kind appeared, a typesetting error changed the name “word-cross” to “cross-word,” and it’s been called a crossword puzzle since.

For the love of your sanity, use a pencil. If you’re using physical paper instead of an online crossword app, use a pencil and eraser. Mistakes, misinterpretations, and confusion are likely to arise, even if you’re a seasoned pro.Wynne’s crossword game would encompass and look very similar to our modern elements of the genre, and it is viewed by many as the first crossword puzzle in the world. These crosswords puzzles became a frequent apparition in the New York World newspapers capturing the attention of adults.

Depending on the difficulty and the specific newspaper editor, you might find cryptic crossword clues with weird traits like these: The New York Times finally begins their crossword puzzle legacy. The Farrar era, with Margaret Farrar as the crossword puzzle editor, lasts from 1942 to 1968. The most important tip is to practice. Max Deutsch took a month to master the Saturday New York Times crossword, and it required consistent practice, about 46 hours in total. He used a lot of memorization with letter training, memorizing crossword answers and clue pairings and completing a sizable number of puzzles. Practice is a huge piece of the puzzle but not the only piece, as harder puzzles like cryptic crosswords require divergent and flexible thinking. Despite the fact that female editors have been important to crossword construction for many years, there has been a distinct drop in female crossword editors and constructors in the Shortz era. To combat this, two different projects — Women of Letters and The Inkubator — seek to highlight female crossword creators.Make a first pass in one direction, usually starting with 1 Across, and solve the most obvious clues first. For instance, solve for fill-in-the-blank questions first, as they tend to be more obvious than others. Decipher the code to complete the crossword grid. Each square is marked with a number corresponding with one letter of the English alphabet. Look for patterns and use your powers of deduction to complete the grid!