#Crossword nytimes crack#

In other words, I should expect to do worse on an average Saturday puzzle. To set the baseline for this month’s challenge, I tried to solve the Saturday NYT puzzle from today (July 1, 2017).Īccording to Rex Parker, the most popular NYT crossword blogger, today’s puzzle has a relative difficulty level of easy. I’ve also tried the Tuesday and Wednesday puzzles, but I still can’t solve them without some help. I occasionally tried the Tuesday puzzle, but could never get very far.Īfter freshman year, I mostly stopped solving crosswords, completing only a few easy puzzles every year.Ī few months ago, I subscribed to the NYT crossword app, and started solving the Monday puzzles again. Most Mondays, I couldn’t complete the puzzle ( even though Mondays are supposed to be the “easiest” puzzles of the week), but I came fairly close. All my answers must come from my brain.ĭuring my freshman year of college, I started doing the NYT crossword every Monday (since the newspaper was freely distributed in the student center and dining halls). I can’t lookup any answers or ask for help in any capacity. This is basically a slightly less defined time constraint.

In other words, once I start the puzzle, I must complete it during that session.

I must complete the puzzle in one sitting.

As long as I’ve never seen the puzzle before, it’s fair game. If the puzzle happens to be from this month, that would be great, but it’s not a requirement. In other words, the entire 15x15 grid must be filled in - with the correct letter in every square.

I must complete one entire Saturday NYT crossword puzzle.

To complete this month’s challenge, I must fulfill three criteria: The Sunday puzzle is a significantly larger puzzle (with a 21x21 grid, versus the Monday-Saturday 15x15 grid), but has a difficulty level of a Wednesday or Thursday. The easiest puzzle is on Monday and the most challenging puzzle is on Saturday. One point of clarification: The NYT puzzle gets more difficult throughout the week.

#Crossword nytimes crack#

So, if I can crack the Saturday puzzle, I should be able to complete any other crossword puzzle, from the NYT or otherwise. In other words, the Saturday NYT crossword puzzle is the most difficult of all the crosswords. To take this challenge further, I’ve decided to maximize the level of difficulty: The New York Times (NYT) has the reputation for publishing the most challenging crossword puzzles, and the Saturday puzzle is designed to be the most challenging puzzle of the week. So, naturally, I see this as a challenge. I’m not sure how folk dancing and crossword puzzles ended up in the same category, but nevertheless, the point is clear: Ericsson, the preeminent authority on expertise and human performance, doesn’t believe crossword puzzles can be mastered in a predictable, accelerated fashion.

Whatever methods there are seem slapdash and produce unpredictable results”. In Ericsson’s book Peak, he explains that “some activities, such as playing music in pop music groups, solving crossword puzzles, and folk dancing, have no standard training approaches. Why the Saturday NYT puzzle?Īccording to Anders Ericsson, the researcher of expertise whose work is the basis for Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule, crossword puzzles are one of the few things that can’t be mastered in any systematic way. Today, I start a new month and a new challenge: With only one month of practice, can I complete a Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle in one sitting without any aid.