Most people who say they're "not a crossword person" don't actually have a vocabulary problem — they have an order problem. They start at 1-Across and try to fight their way straight through, clue by clue, in the order the puzzle prints them. Experienced solvers almost never do that. They jump around, and that's the whole secret.
Here's the actual strategy, broken into the order it happens in your head, not the order the clues are numbered.
Step 1: Do a First Pass for Gimmes Only
According to Mr. Puzzle, the best move on any new grid is to resist the urge to solve it in order. Read every clue once, fast, and only fill in the ones you know cold. Skip anything that makes you pause. This first pass is usually only 10–20% of the grid, but that's fine — those answers become the crossing letters that unlock everything else.
Step 2: Let Crossings Do the Heavy Lifting
Once a few gimmes are in, look at the clues that intersect them. A clue you couldn't answer on its own often becomes obvious with just one or two letters already sitting in the grid. This back-and-forth between "solve a clue" and "use it to crack a neighbor" is the real engine of crossword solving — you're rarely solving any single clue in total isolation.
Step 3: Learn to Read Crossword Shorthand
Crossword clues use a small set of conventions that look strange the first time and become second nature after that. Recognizing them instantly saves more time than any other single skill.
| Clue signal | What it means |
|---|---|
| Clue ends in "…, e.g." | Answer is an example of the clue, not a synonym |
| Clue ends in "?" | Expect a pun or wordplay twist, not a literal answer |
| Clue is abbreviated ("Doc, for one") | Answer is likely abbreviated too |
| Clue is plural ("Cats, e.g.") | Answer is plural — often ends in S |
| Clue is past tense ("Walked") | Answer matches the tense — often ends in ED |
| Blank in the clue ("___ and butter") | Fill-in-the-blank — answer completes a known phrase |
That tense-and-number matching rule in particular is worth memorizing on its own: if the clue is plural, the answer is plural, full stop. It quietly rules out a huge number of wrong guesses before you even write anything down.
Step 4: Work in Sections, Not in Order
Treat the grid like four or five overlapping neighborhoods rather than one long street. Pick a corner, squeeze as many answers out of it as you can using steps 1–3, then move to the next corner. Sections near each other will start sharing letters, and momentum builds fast once two sections meet in the middle.
Step 5: Pencil In Guesses You're Not Sure Of
If a clue seems to fit but you're not fully confident, write it in lightly anyway. A half-right guess still supplies real crossing letters, and those letters often confirm or kill the guess within a clue or two. Waiting for total certainty before writing anything down is the single biggest speed killer for new solvers. Mr. Puzzle recommends erasable pencil for exactly this reason — a bold guess is only risky if it's permanent.
Theme Answers Are Your Best Skip Targets
In themed crosswords — which includes the New York Times puzzle Monday through Thursday and on Sunday — the longest answers in the grid carry the theme. These answers are often impossible to solve purely from their clue, because the clue is deliberately cryptic about the theme mechanism. But once you identify the theme from one or two shorter answers, the long theme entries often fill themselves. Skip them early. Fill surrounding shorter answers. Let the theme reveal itself, then return to the theme entries last.
This reverses the instinct most solvers have to tackle the big impressive answers first. Save them. The grid will hand them to you if you're patient.
When to Stop Skipping and Commit
Strategic skipping has a natural endpoint: when your grid is roughly 60–70% full, you have enough crossing information that most remaining clues are solvable. At this point, stop skipping and work systematically through the blanks. You've built the scaffold. Now it's time to finish the structure.
The solvers who finish puzzles fastest aren't the ones who know the most trivia. They're the ones who extract the most value from every letter they place. Skip smart, fill confident, and let the crossings do the work.
Ready to Put It Into Practice?
The best way to make this stick is to try it on a real grid with the technique fresh in mind — the section-by-section jump becomes obvious after just one puzzle where you actually do it on purpose.