r/crossword • u/Electronic_Tank_2945 • 3d ago

Beginner and want to decrease time

Hey guys, just wanted to come on here to see if there are on recommendations for a newbie like me. My time today was 27 minutes and I just am a bit disappointed. I’m 20 and literally just started getting into crosswords, so I know it’ll take some time before I start getting my times down.

Besides just doing more crosswords do yall have anything specific that you do to decrease solve time? Also how much do you think it’s just an IQ filter—I’m curious as to the consensus on that is.

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u/NessaSola 3d ago

A fast strategy might be to do a quick pass through all the clues. If you know it (or think you do), write it. If you don't, don't lose a couple seconds wondering.

If you have a hunch, running through crossers to see if you can match a couple letters is great. One or two double-checked squares is enough to mark down all the words involved. A mistake is less likely with those checks, but if it happens you can fix it later.

If you're done with the initial pass, focus on crossers that have known (hopefully correct) letters. Don't lose time musing on areas with low information if there are places you can easily build from.

If you've built out as many answers as you can, it's time to look at blocks and see if there are clusters of clues that can help each other 'click' into place. This is the hard part and probably the biggest time sink, and just has to be solved out until the puzzle is done.

Best of luck! Obviously, gaining more crosswordese vocabulary and sharper habits of figuring out answers will help, but these are strategies that might save time even without grinding those skills for now.

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u/NessaSola 3d ago

Adding to address: I don't think there's much of an IQ filter, except maybe at very particular levels. There are a few skills that are really experience-based more than anything: Recognizing common crosswordese, reasoning out words from crossing letters, reasoning about potential letters (ends in s/ing/ed? University starts with U or ends in U?), lateral thinking, etc.

Tremendous memory or background knowledge helps, but in terms of solving a crossword they're inferior to the skills any person can easily gain by just solving every day.

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u/OldSpeckledCock 3d ago

Pattern recognition, reasoning, lateral thinking are all major components of IQ, no?

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u/NessaSola 3d ago

True. It helps, and that kind of intelligence helps you gain the experience faster as well.

But if you ask me who's going to clear a challenging crossword puzzle faster between someone with a lot of raw intellectual talent and a little crossword experience, or someone middle-of-the-road who has a lot of crossword experience, I'm going to guess the experienced solver.