Crossword Tutorial: 6 Easy Steps to Hone Your Puzzle Solving Ability

by Carol Lee
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Do you want to successfully solve puzzles but have no clue how to improve your solving skills?
Are you facing a hopeless struggle?

Well, we have you covered. Here are the top strategies that will help you ace solving crossword:

1. Practice a lot of puzzles

Practice Practice Practice. Yes. A lot of practice will help you become a crossword pro. If you are a beginner, you can go for an easy crossword for beginners.

You should know how to identify different themes and then work on it accordingly.

As you keep practicing, increase your difficulty level and also the solving momentum.

Go for different puzzles and understand them thoroughly. Optimize your strategy for pattern recognition and also the theme as it is quite important.

2. Memorize the frequently used clues and their answers

You have to take extreme approaches when you are aiming to master the solving technique.

When you have aggregated different crossword clues with their answers, it is always good to sort them based on their frequency. After this, memorize the most popular answers until the threshold point.

3. Keep a good solving momentum

See the grid pattern of the puzzle and then decide how much time you will take to complete that particular puzzle.

Make sure you do what you commit. Don’t take too much time to finish it else solving will be of no use.
Keep a good solving pace throughout the puzzle and you will see yourself improving.

4. Never overstress your mind

When you are aiming to become a crossword pro and practicing a lot, don’t overstress your mind. Don’t keep thinking the whole day about the puzzle and start spending sleepless nights.

It is important for your whole body to take a minimum of six to eight hours of sleep.

When your mind is relaxed, you can fully dedicate it into solving the online word puzzle.

5. Make Google your guardian

There are times when you are unable to crack the clue, take help from Google. Off course, you will be coming across some answers that aren’t yet in your skull.

If you have an idea about the beginning of a word, flicking through Google seems pretty harmless. Don’t worry that you are cheating. Sometimes you learn more by taking help of whatever feels necessary and then going back to have a view on how the clue worked.

Even when you know the answer, search it on Google and know the descriptive meaning.
Initially, it will take several hours to complete the puzzle. Sometimes, you are unable to finish the complete crossword.

Imagine yourself yelling away- ‘Finally FINISHED’. Aah, that sense of accomplishment is certainly amazing!

6. Don’t immediately jump to any conclusion

The given clues should be dealt with a strategic approach and an open mind. For example, if there is a word ‘Entrance’, this can be related to ‘Door’, ‘Getaway’ or ‘Opening.’

There are many English words having the same spelling but can have completely unrelated meaning. So you have to be very careful.

Wrapping Up

Plan a strategy in your mind and work towards it. Decide whether you want to work on across clues or down clues. The choice is completely yours as everyone has a different convenience level.

Recalibrate the way your brain perceives the puzzle difficulty. You will realize not only are the puzzles simple but the clues were straightforward. You will feel someone has taken the weights from your bat and you are swinging your way with free crosswords easily.

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