Don't worry about pen or pencil yet. Beginning, here are some tricks that will help you become started. Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press

We're hither to assist you lot solve. Sometimes getting started is the hardest part, so we're too here to aid you outset.

If you lot've ever picked up a crossword puzzle and said to yourself, "I am not smart enough" or "I don't take a big enough vocabulary for this," allow us to tell y'all a hole-and-corner:

A crossword puzzle is not a test of intelligence and solving is not really about the size of your vocabulary. It's about understanding what the clues are asking you to practise.

And yous can absolutely acquire to do that.

We believe that anyone can larn to solve crosswords. Once you learn a few bones tips and tricks, you'll find that puzzle-solving is non only possible, but highly addictive. And they're like mental yoga – both challenging and relaxing at the aforementioned time.

We've even included some tips and encouragement from the pros, to proceed you motivated.

"Solving crosswords eliminates worries. They brand you a calmer and more focused person." – Will Shortz, New York Times Crossword editor and NPR puzzlemaster

  1. 1. Start With the Monday Puzzles

    tl;dr: Mondays are the easiest and they get harder as the week goes on.

    This is probably a beginning solver'southward most common error.

    You know what it's like: You take some downtime on a Saturday and you wait around for something to pass the time. Your officemate keeps bragging almost his ability to finish The New York Times Crossword. You hate your officemate.

    Then, non to be outdone, you pick upward the paper or download our app and turn to the Saturday puzzle. How hard could it be?

    Fun Fact: The Saturday crossword is actually the hardest puzzle of the calendar week. Opposite to popular conventionalities, the Sunday puzzles are midweek difficulty, non the hardest. Mondays have the most straightforward clues and Sabbatum clues are the most vague or involve the most wordplay. Some later-week puzzle clues may crave specialized knowledge.

    But to drive the betoken domicile, let'southward take a look at the difference betwixt a Monday clue and a late-week clue for a popular crossword entry. OREO cookies (answers in puzzles are generally written in all capital letters) are such a pop entry in crosswords that they have been dubbed by some as the "official" cookie of the crossword. A typical Monday inkling for OREO will exist very straightforward and drive you almost directly to the answer.

    "Nabisco cookie"
    "Cookie with creme filling"
    "'Twist, Lick, Dunk' cookie"

    And here are some late-calendar week clues, which might crave more specialized knowledge near these delicious treats:

    "Snack since 1912"
    "It has 12 flowers on each side"
    "Sandwich often given a twist"

    We weren't kidding you. At that place is a big difference between a Monday puzzle and a Saturday puzzle.

    That doesn't mean that you can't work your manner toward solving a late-week puzzle – and we recommend that yous do, because they're fun – simply information technology takes experience and patience.

    If you're simply getting started, though, make your life easy and solve as many Monday puzzles as you can. Eventually, you'll be ready for more than of a claiming, and that'southward when you move on to Tuesday puzzles.

    Puzzle hack: Start with the Mondays and solve as many of them as you tin before pushing yourself to Tuesday puzzles. Yous tin thank us subsequently.

  2. 2. Practice Makes, If Not Perfect, a Much Amend Solver

    tl;dr: Solve consistently. Crossword answers and their clues get repeated. A lot.

    Once you've learned an answer and how it'south clued, you can almost be certain yous'll see it again. The encephalon works in weird and wonderful ways, and when yous start solving crosswords consistently, you'll surprise yourself when you say, "Hey, I know that one!"

    Let'southward look at our friend the OREO cookie again. The entry OREO has appeared in The New York Times Crossword a total of 389 times since the puzzle began running in 1942. Of those, OREO has been clued in ane grade or another as the cookie a total of 278 times.

    Fun fact: Before 1993, when the editor Will Shortz took over, OREO had been clued nigh exclusively as the combining form or prefix of the give-and-take "Mountain." Thank you, Will!

    "Continue working the puzzle every day as best you can. For a solid month after I started regularly attempting The Times puzzle, I couldn't even solve Tuesdays. Simply I gave information technology a shot every day anyway, and I'm willing to bet that the exposure helped me improve faster." – Tyler Hinman, five-fourth dimension winner of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, featured in 2006 documentary "Wordplay"
    "Do more puzzles. Really, that's the only advice I have. The more you solve, the improve you'll get. It's also useful to read Wordplay and/or other puzzle blogs, which helped me internalize the tricks and tropes of crossword clues while I was learning the ropes." – Dan Feyer, seven-fourth dimension champion of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament

    Puzzle hack: Solving puzzles consistently helps builds up your skills, considering many crossword answers appear repeatedly.

    Source: XWordInfo.com

  3. iii. Find Your 'Gimmes'

    tl;dr: Scan the clue list before solving to notice that depression-hanging fruit, and solve those first.

    Yous already know more than you call up you do. Scan the clue list for the things you already know, or "gimmes," and write those in beginning.

    To borrow a sports term, a puzzle or individual inkling on topics that yous know well is said to be "in your wheelhouse." Y'all'll be able to discover at least a few things in each puzzle that you lot know.

    "Good crosswords connect to everything in life." – Will Shortz

    Y'all can as well pick out the clues that are meant to exist easiest and tackle them first. Fill-in-the-blank clues, such as "___ of Arc," for the respond JOAN, tend to be easier because your brain simply loves filling in missing information.

    Don't believe united states? Attempt these clues that are designed to exist easy for near people:

    1. "Leonardo daVinci's ___ Lisa"

    Even if art isn't your thing, your brain knows the answer to this: Information technology's MONA, for MONA Lisa.

    These like shooting fish in a barrel clues don't even accept to be fill-in-the-blanks. Your brain will do it even when in that location is no bare.

    2. "Hockey disk"

    Not into sports? Non to worry. Surely yous nevertheless know what a hockey PUCK is.

    Once you accept a few answers in the puzzle, sit dorsum and congratulate yourself. You're solving!

    Puzzle hack: Don't waste time puzzling over clues that you tin't solve right away. Pick out the easier clues – what you know and backup-the-blanks clues – and solve those first.

  4. The New York Times

    four. Use the Crossings, Luke

    tl;dr: Check your answer by seeing if you can correctly fill up in the other entries that cross it.

    You lot can confirm whether your answer is right by solving the entries that cross it.

    Allow's look at an example of why it pays to work those crossings. You might non run into this in a Monday puzzle, but say the clue is "Black Halloween animate being," and yous have confidently written in "True cat."

    Then you look at the entry that crosses the first letter of CAT and the clue is "Honest ___ (presidential moniker)." The answer to that one is ABE, so True cat must be wrong.

    Now what do you practise?

    "When y'all enter an respond, immediately check the crossing entries through it. Start with the least common letter and become from there: If you lot've written in the word JUICE, look at the clue that crosses the newly entered 'J.'" – Joel Fagliano, Mini Crossword author and Digital Crosswords editor

    The trick is to stay flexible and remember that a BAT is besides a "black Halloween animate being." Tricky, but doable.

    "The fundamental to solving crosswords is mental flexibility. If ane reply doesn't seem to be working out, try something else." –Will Shortz

    Conversely, you can also piece of work your way through an respond that you can't go completely past solving the crossings. One time you have enough letters filled in, take your best guess based on the pattern of letters yous've uncovered.

    Puzzle hack: Check your work by trying to solve the crossing entries. Solve the to the lowest degree common letters first, as there are likely to exist fewer words with those letters in them.

  5. The New York Times

    5. Aggrandize Your Territory

    tl;dr: Build on what yous've already solved.

    It's much easier to solve a inkling where the answer already has some letters filled in than to endeavor to solve ane that's completely blank, so once y'all have that all-important foothold, get back to those areas and try to aggrandize your solved territory.

    Solving shorter words is helpful, too: A three-alphabetic character respond with a single letter filled in may exist easier to solve than a longer reply with one letter filled in.

    Puzzle hack: Once you lot have a foothold in the puzzle past filling in the gimmes, try to solve around those and build from there.

  6. Richard Drew/Associated Press

    6. Exist Open up to Learning From the Puzzle

    tl;dr: Looking up answers isn't cheating. Information technology's learning.

    Some solvers will tell y'all that looking up the reply to a clue is "adulterous," but information technology's not. When you wait something upwardly, yous are learning so you'll know it for next fourth dimension.

    Whether it'southward trivia or an interesting new word or phrase, crosswords are ultimately educational activity tools.

    And, quoting the one-time New York Times crossword editor Will Weng, one of his predecessors, Volition Shortz reminds us that "It'due south your puzzle. Solve it any way y'all like."

    "Feel gratuitous to look up answers you don't know and read about them – y'all'll probable meet those answers and clues again." – Howard Barkin, 2016 winner of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament

    Puzzle hack: Don't be agape to look up answers. You'll become a better solver for it.

  7. 7. Accept a Break if Yous Get Stuck

    tl;dr: Walking away from the puzzle for a while tin can sometimes assistance y'all solve.

    Nosotros're big fans of the encephalon here, particularly its incredible work ethic. Just even brains get tired, so if y'all are stuck at some point in the puzzle, one of the best things you lot can practise is put it down and take a pause from it for a while.

    We're not sure how this works, but your brain will go along working on the inkling in the background while yous go about your day. When you come back to it, you lot might be surprised at the "Aha!" moment you experience when y'all thought y'all didn't know the answer.

    Puzzle hack: It happens to the best of us. Put the puzzle down for a while and come back to information technology.

  8. 8. Solve With a Friend

    tl;dr: Two brains can sometimes exist meliorate than ane.

    Your wheelhouse might be stuffed with sports trivia. Your BFF'southward wheelhouse might be crammed to the rafters with a deep noesis of opera. Vive la différence, right?

    Solving with another person tin can work to your reward. You know stuff your friend doesn't know, and he or she knows stuff that you don't know. That'southward roughly twice as much stuff that yous tin solve, and it's a practiced excuse to spend time together.

    In fact, you lot never know when it could lead to something more than.

    "When we started dating, my wife and I would encounter up on Sunday mornings to do The New York Times Crossword together. I was terrible at it, merely solving with a friend apace fabricated me a better solver." – Jeff Chen, New York Times Crossword constructor and assistant to the regional director of XWordInfo.com.

    Puzzle hack: Brand solving a social occasion: Detect a friend or loved ane and practise the puzzle together.

  9. 9. What'due south Up With Those "?" Clues, Anyway?

    tl;dr: Eventually, you will run into the clues that require you to think exterior the box. That'southward when it really gets fun.

    Some clues end in question marks, and those question marks indicate that a clue is not to exist taken literally. The answer might be some sort of pun, or you might accept to think of alternating ways in which the words in the clue might be used.

    For example, yous might run into a clue like "Chore that might involve watching the kids?" The answer has to exist Babe SITTER, correct? Only what if nosotros told y'all that the answer is only eight letters long?

    Here's how to crack this clue: Recall about what other kinds of "kids" you know. Aren't baby goats chosen kids?

    So a "job that might involve watching the kids" that has viii letters would be a GOAT HERD.

    Trust us, you'll learn to beloved this part of it. Playing with words is addictive.

    Puzzle hack: Clues that end in a "?" mean that wordplay is involved in the respond. Read the clue carefully and try to think of alternate meanings to fundamental words.

  10. 10. Sit Back and Enjoy Your Accomplishment

    tl;dr: Look at you, y'all're solving The New York Times Crossword!

    Solving a New York Times crossword is non easy, but it should exist satisfying. Fifty-fifty if you merely get a few answers the first few times, keep on solving. Information technology just gets easier – and meliorate – from there.

    Simply don't limit yourself. Try to main the skills you need to get started, and then push yourself to go further into the week. That's where all of that stray, delicious wordplay is tucked into the clues, and where the fun in solving crosswords lies.

    And your officemate will swallow his liver out.

    Puzzle hack: Don't forget to pat yourself on the dorsum when you pick upwardly a new solving skill.

    Want to give your new skills a workout? We made some easy Mini crosswords for you. Effort them now for costless.