How to solve crossword puzzles
Crosswords combine vocabulary with logic: every letter you figure out helps solve the clues that cross it.
Step by step
- Read every clue once before writing anything, marking the ones you already know.
- Fill in the surest answers first (dates, acronyms, proper names) — they carry the least ambiguity.
- Use the letters you already filled in to rule out options on the clues crossing them.
- Pay attention to the answer's length: it already rules out correct words of the wrong size.
- Save the hardest clues for last, once you have more supporting letters from crossing answers.
O que fazer com isso
What to do with it
Apply these steps to your next crossword — attacking easy clues first, then crossed ones, then hard ones, is what speeds solving up the most.
Where to start
Start with the shortest, most direct clues (dates, acronyms, proper names) — they carry less ambiguity and give you letters that help crack the harder crossing clues.
Pencil in the answers you are most sure about first; the letters they lend to neighboring words are often the missing push needed to solve the rest.
Glossário: os termos desta página
Crossword
A word game where answers cross each other sharing letters, filled in from numbered across and down clues.
Games and hobbies glossary — todos os 14 termos.