Why am I not better at CROSSWORD PUZZLES?

Question

I've never been good at crossword puzzles. Why? I have advanced degrees in English and strong verbal ability. Just crossword puzzles have never been attractive to me, nor have I been good at them.

Answer 1

Crossworders (cruciverbalists!) have only a little overlap with people of letters like writers and speakers. The overlap is limited to spelling and vocabulary. Crossworders aren’t concerned with discourse, which invokes grammar, cohesion, theme and style – just the meanings and spellings of words by themselves.

Furthermore, crossworders are not interested in words per se, but any string of letters or verbal entity with meaning, including compound words, obscure and antiquated words, foreign words and abbreviations. That is, we (I’m a rabid cruciverbalist – Sunday puzzles from books of them only, always in ink, three to five puzzles a day) are only interested in words and word fragments for their typographical qualities. And you cannot be good at them until you have done thousands of them, because the typographical strings that you will need are learned there alone. If I say “actress Negri”, “Tunisian port”, “ski-lift accessory”, “gibbon”, “young salmon” or “Celebes ox” to a Pulitzer winning writer who is not a crossworder, he or she is probably stumped. Why should anybody else know that stuff? But any avid crossworder has seen these short typographical strings many times because they are commonly needed by crossword authors to construct their puzzles (by the way, the answers are Pola, Sfax, T-bar, lar, parr and anoa respectively).

There are pairs of words and their clues that I know from repeated exposure, but don’t really know what either the clue or the answer mean, just that one goes with the other. Worse, I don’t care what they mean. Here are a few of my favorite such pairs:

eskars – osar
jackdaw – kae
wallaroo – euro
wallaba – apa
anent - inre
arikara – ree
grampus – orc
menhaden (or alewife) – pogy
sweetsop – ates
wood sorrel – oca

Also, you’re probably not used to thinking of words as series of letters except when you are writing them. I know them in pieces. Which words end in –gm? Can you think of two? How about diaphragm, syntagm, apothegm, paradigm, borbyrygm, and phlegm? It’s pretty funny when you think about it.

But you can see why it is that even though you’re probably a better writer than I am, you’re not ready for crosswording if you can’t do this stuff well.

That’s why.

(My spellchecker’s head just exploded.)

Answer 2

I would say that I am good at crosswords and here is why you may be experiencing trouble. To begin with, people who are good at crosswords generally have been doing them for a long time. They recognize the clues, they go back and check the answers the next day, they understand the language of the clues. If you do the crossword enough, you will see a lot of the same clues. Also, one possible thing that may help....if the clue is plural, changes are the answer is plural. Keep in mind, the crossword just doesn't use the English language. There are clues in their expected to be answered in German, Spanish, Latin, Greek, etc. When I first started doing them, I didn't know any other languages. But, like I said, with familiarity...you start learning what the answer may or could be. Also keep in mind, the Crossword gets harder as the days of the week go on. Start doing a lot "Monday" puzzles. Those tend to be easier. Hope this helps. Crosswords are a lot of fun and they are something that can keep your mind active even into old age.

Answer 3

Do them more often - you'll get better at them.

It's not only about verbal skills but about thinking skills. You also have to understand the crossword hints. If the clue ends in an "s", the answer most likely will too. Example: clue is eats, answer is dines. If the clue has a question mark after it, you know the answer will most likely be a pun. If the clue is past tense, the answer will most likely end in "ed." Example: clue is passed on, answer is died.

Answer 4

Crosswords is for people who are visual, rather than auditory. You probably belong to the latter category and have great oral and listening skills, but that's not what's needed in a crosswords.

Writers, and I suspect mathematicians, tend to be better in solving them because they concentrate on patterns, rather than the clues. Really good crossword masters can solve them almost without looking at the hints.

Answer 5

I'm not very big on crossword puzzles either. Some of the clues I can figure out easily, but there are some more advanced definitions, and I'm thinking, WTF? That's why I avoid them.

Answer 6

We're all good at different things, looking at things in a different way...I'm good at crosswords, I don't have advanced degrees; however, I speak 3 languages, so that might help...I'm not good a quick retorts, and I hate it!

Answer 7

one of those things...its the way ur brain is...my wife and i have about the same vocabulary...she loves word puzzles i get nervous had hate them

Answer 8

if your not good with the words and quastion it should be fine

Answer 9

everyone has stuff their good at.
and everyone has stuff their NOT good at.

its life.
=]

Answer 10

you prolly need practice