How to Solve the Saturday New York Times Crossword

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How to Solve the Saturday New York Times Crossword

By Brad Shorr | May 9, 2008

(Now everybody will have something to do tomorrow!)

The Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle is a tough test, some say the toughest. Word nerd that I am, my favorite part of Saturday morning is sitting down with a cup of tea and taking a crack at it. About 90% of the time, I can solve or mostly solve it, but it can take me anywhere from an hour to several hours. I spent a couple days working on the puzzle above, using a wide a variety of writing implements!

Here are a few tips for crossword lovers looking to take their game to the next level …

Strategy

1. Use a pencil. As you can see from the photo, pens may backfire.

2. What makes the Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle so difficult is not the answers, but the clues. In fact, the answers are often simple words. But you have to open your mind to interpret clues in multiple and unusual ways. For example, in last week’s puzzle, we had the clue, “Like anchors”. I was thinking about barnacles, submerged, etc. The answer was “ON CAMERA”. It took me a while to think of “anchors” as in TV anchors. Which brings up a second strategic point.

3. The Saturday puzzle doesn’t tell you how many words are in the answer. Could be one, two, three, or more. So be careful about sticking an “S” at the end of a word if the clue suggests a plural answer. Worse, some really devilish puzzles have multiple letters or even symbols within particular squares. Or have certain answers filled in backwards. I even remember one where some of the letters went outside the frame of the puzzle. So if you’re convinced you have the answer but it doesn’t fit … think again.

4. If you are completely blocked, walk away. Mow the lawn, prune a tree, clear your head somehow. Sometimes I’ll be totally stumped and come back after resting my brain and boom! Answers pop into my head right away. Perhaps Robyn McMaster or Dr. Ellen Weber can explain why!

Tactics

1. Start by going straight through all the Across and Down clues. Don’t spend too much time pondering any one clue, and don’t freak out if you only solve one, or maybe don’t solve any. You’re looking for one or two anchor answers to build on. Last week, I could only come up with one answer on my first pass. The clue was “Big numismatic news” and the solution was “MISPRINT”.

2. Next step — go through the entire puzzle again and fill in any “-s” and “-ed” endings that seem appropriate based on the clue. Like I said earlier, you have to be careful. Last week, we had a clue, “Some pointers”, with a six-letter answer. I thought it was safe to put an “s” in box 6 because two three-letter words or a four-two combination seemed improbable. On the other hand, for the clue “Nurses, say”, a two-word answer was possible, since it had eight-letters. No “s”. (The answer was “CARES FOR”.)

3. Now take a very hard look at the clues around any squares you have letters filled in. Once I had “MISPRINT”, an intersecting clue, “Legendary brothers in law”, became easy — “EARPS”. Another intersecting clue, “Some DVR’s”, had to be something like “RCAS” or “NECS”, so I thought about which of those sets of letters, if either, looked more appropriate for the unsolved, intersecting words. In this case, “RCA” looked good, so I went with it.

4. If you hit a dead end, start from the top and take another, more thoughtful pass at all the Across and Down clues. By now you’ve gotten into the game and you may be surprised at how many possible solutions start coming to mind.

5. Try to identify a fit between two intersecting clues. If you find one, that may be all you need to solve or partially solve both clues. For the Across clue “Zebralike” and the intersecting Down clue “Alternative to a water ski”, I was stumped until I thought “Q”. A “Q” in “EQUINE” aligned with an answer starting “AQUA”. A good fit — too good to be coincidental — so I wrote it in, leaving the last five letters of “AQUA” open because I didn’t know aqua-what. (It turned out to be “AQUAPLANE”.)

That’s about it. Do you have any tips for the New York Times crossword? Tell us your secrets!

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4 Responses to “How to Solve the Saturday New York Times Crossword”

Robert Hruzek Says:
May 9th, 2008 at 6:09 am
Sorry, Brad; the only tip I can possibly offer is this: make sure you trim it properly so it fits in the bottom of the bird cage!

Crossword puzzles are one of those things I’ve never been any good at, strangely enough. Not sure why - except to say I usually don’t have the patience to work ‘em.
Robyn Says:
May 9th, 2008 at 6:10 am
Hi Brad, you’ve asked a very interesting question. One result of not getting the answer right away would be a certain level of stress in not being able to come up with it as you wish to do. This can cause the hormone cortisol to be released in your brain and it diminishes the brain’s ability for clear thinking. So that hampers your progress.

However the human brain is stimulated by puzzles and challenges and when you present it with one, your brain works on it subconsciously, whether you are aware of it or not. So when you are focused in a whole different area, your brain churns on the answer. When you are mowing the lawn or pruning the tree, you are truly likely to have an aha moment it that particular information is programmed in your brain to access. I can see that you had to make new connections from disparate pieces of information. Now that verges on what genius’s do when they invent!
Brad Shorr Says:
May 9th, 2008 at 6:21 am
Bob, I would have figured you for a crossword pro, but I’ve met other top word smiths who avoid them like the plague. Robyn, fascinating! Your brain works on problems when you’re concentrating on something else? I did not know that. Maybe I can treat my lawn mower as a business expense. Seriously, is that why you hear stories of how people come up with ingenious ideas when they least expect it — while taking a shower, mowing the lawn, etc.?
Robert Hruzek Says:
May 9th, 2008 at 7:34 am
That’s how my brain works, for sure: give it a real challenge, and then go do something else. But I like the “lawnmower business expense” idea…

Actually, that’s the theory behind Roger von Oeck’s “Ball of Whacks” (or even the phenomenon of doodling, for that matter). When you give your hands (or body) something else to do while you’re thinking, your brain actually makes more connections! Pretty cool.