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/withbellson 3d ago

They have their own style quirks that you will recognize as you do more of them. OTOE UTE ANI ENO ORA are all gimmes once you’ve got that experience, and completely weird if you don’t. I’d say start working through the Monday and Tuesday archived puzzles to start. Do the recent ones because older ones may have unfamiliar then-contemporary cultural references.

Don’t feel bad if it takes awhile. I’ve been doing the NYT for 30 years. It was a sound business decision to syndicate the puzzles into the college paper.

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u/dfetz3 2d ago

Second the Monday and Tuesday's in the archive! When I started doing the NYT I went through all the Mon/Tues from the last two years and it really helped learn all the "croswordese".