Make some sense of The New York Times Crossword. Here are some common clue patterns and how to solve them.
The clue and answer must agree in tense, part of speech, and even language. In addition, abbreviated clues indicate an abbreviated answer.
Clues that end in question marks indicate a play on words in the clue or answer.
There are a lot of short words that appear in crosswords much more often than in real life. Mastering these 3- and 4-letter “repeater” answers will give you a leg up in solving.
Every Sunday-Thursday NYT crossword has a theme, something that unites the puzzle’s longest answers. Theme answers are always found in symmetrical places in the grid.
The occasional puzzle (usually on Thursday or Sunday) will require you to enter multiple letters into a single square, which is called a rebus.