Okay, so the New York Times Crossword. It’s, like, the crossword, right? Everyone talks about it. I always saw it pop up and thought, “Nah, that’s for super smart people, not me.” But, I was getting bored with my usual phone games, you know? Candy Crush just wasn’t cutting it anymore.
So, one lazy Sunday, I decided, “What the heck?” I opened up the NYT app and… wow, was I intimidated. All those blank squares! I felt like I was staring at some secret code.
I started, like everyone does, with the short, easy words. You know, the three- or four-letter ones. Fill those in. It was a struggle, I’m not gonna lie. I was Googling stuff left and right. “Three-letter word for a bird’s home?” “Nest!” Okay, duh.
- First, I tackled the “mini” crossword. It’s smaller, so I thought, “Less pressure, right?”
- Then I Downloaded their crossword app, to practiced.
- I focused on the across clues first, then the down clues. Seemed less chaotic that way.
- Lots of guessing. Lots of “Is that even a word?” moments.
- I Started to recognizing those quirky crossword-ese words, like “EPEE” and “ARIA”.
I slowly, and I mean slowly, started to get the hang of it. I learned that some clues are straightforward, and some are, well, tricksy. Puns! Wordplay! It’s a whole thing. After many struggles, I finished, it’s very satifying.
Feeling Smart (a Little)
It’s not like I’m solving the Saturday puzzle in record time or anything (those are brutal!). But I can usually finish the Monday and Tuesday puzzles now, and sometimes even the Wednesday one! It’s become my little morning ritual. Coffee, crossword, and feeling slightly smarter than I did five minutes before. It’s a good way to start the day, even if I do spend half the time yelling at the puzzle, “What kind of clue is that?!”
