Need a helping hand with your crossword puzzle? Been struggling with cryptic crosswords for a while and need a bit of a boost? We’ve got you covered, with this blog post containing all the tips and tricks you need to solve those cryptic crossword puzzles in no time at all!
Solving Time Is Money
We all love a quick and easy solution to a crossword puzzle. Sometimes we’ve got so many letters to fill in that we need to spend longer than expected solving it. But if you’re not solving a puzzle for fun, then spending more time than needed on a puzzle can seriously cut into your profits. This is why every time you solve a cryptic crossword puzzle, you should take a few minutes to write down how long it took you to solve it. This way you can judge whether or not you’re solving the puzzle efficiently. If you find you’re spending too much time on a puzzle, then there’s likely a simpler solution waiting to be found.
Cut Down On The Number Of Letters
When we’re stuck on a puzzle for a while, the first thing that usually comes to mind is trying to fit as many letters into the grid as possible. While it’s great to fill the entire grid, this often results in a puzzle that’s too easy. If you keep having trouble solving a puzzle, then try cutting down on the number of letters you’re using. The fewer the letters the easier it is to fit them in, so you can keep the difficulty level high while avoiding an overly simplified solution.
Use Your NOSE
If you’re having trouble figuring out what a particular word means in a puzzle, you can use your nose to help you. Since crosswords rely heavily on wordplay, it’s often the case that a simple nosebleed can result in the solution to a puzzle. It’s always best to look for words that rhyme or have similar beginnings or endings. You can also use your nose to help you figure out how to approach a puzzle. If you find yourself struggling with a certain word in a particular puzzle, try using your nose to determine whether or not you should change your strategy and work on solving the puzzle in a different way.
Fill It Up – Or Down
It’s fairly typical for cryptic crossword puzzles to have one word missing from the title as the answer. Sometimes you can guess the answer instantly once you’ve seen the title. However, more often than not it takes a bit of work to figure out what the missing word is. You can either fill it in with an anagram of the title or find the meaning of the word based on its letters. In general, it’s best to go with your instincts and put your letters in the right spaces as you go along. If you get stuck somewhere, then coming back to it later can be much more efficient as you’ve basically already done the hard work for that puzzle.
The Luck Of LUCKY
One of the most important things to do whenever you solve a crossword puzzle is to congratulate yourself on a job well done. You’ve worked hard to get to that point, so take a few minutes to savor the moment and give yourself a little pat on the back. You did it! You figured out how to solve the puzzle and did it without any errors. This is why it’s so important to always start from the beginning and work your way through each puzzle without cheating or trying to shortcut the process. If you do happen to solve a puzzle in a different way than how it was originally presented, then so be it – you did it! You’re a smarter crossword solver than the person who presented it in the first place. Every puzzle is a learning experience, and every learning experience is worth it.