Puzzle and crossword enthusiasts often crave solving them. The New York Times, known for its avid news stories, is also known for its extensive, interactive crosswords. You might have come across the mini crossword (Statesman NYT Crossword) and solved it without straining your brows. But, can you solve the XL NYT Crossword?
This article would basically be a game changer for you if you are a crossword enthusiast. How? It would provide you with the basic tips and tricks required to master the art of XL Crosswords. With that being said, let’s begin.
Table of Contents
The Basic Hindrances Of An XL Crossword
Solving an XL crossword is hard, but solving the XL NYT Crossword is even harder. The NYT is known for its enriched yet tricky puzzles which can baffle your mind. To solve these crosswords, you need to get a grasp of the problems first. Let’s have a look.
Bigger Size
As the name suggests and as you might know, an XL crossword is often bigger than traditional crosswords. This makes it complex and thus leaves minimal room for error. Imagine brewing a string of words and you get one of them wrong; you need to restart.
Larger Words
An XL crossword demands bigger words to fill long stretches of boxes. This poses a problem, as long words (often in a historic context) are often prone to be not known by many. Not only that, it has a risk of being misspelled as well.
Limited Clues
Although the words are long, the clues are limited. This means that you need to brainstorm and find the right fit for the clue as well as the volume. This would be problematic for anyone who is not into history and polity.
Thematic Restrictions
As far as XL crosswords from NYT are concerned, they follow a historic as well as political theme for its puzzles. This makes it overwhelmingly difficult for someone who does not follow polity as such. Even a good vocabulary wouldn’t help.
How You Should Tackle The Problems
Problems are inevitable in a crossword, but there are ways in which you can overcome them. Coming to the XL NYT Crossword, here is a step-by-step list of way-outs that you can try. It would surely be helpful for you.
1. Don’t Rush, Analyse Instead
The key to solving an XL crossword is that you should not start away directly. Instead, you should watch the grids and analyse the crossword, aligning the boxes with the clues.
2. Go Through The Clues
Once analysed, go through the clues and start figuring out the probable words that could fill in the boxes. Make sure that you don’t end up choosing the wrong word, as it would ruin the hard work.
3. Start With The Easiest Grids
There is no need to go in a chronological order. You can start with the grids that you think are within your range. Take your time and fill out those grids, it would make the solving easier for you.
4. Figure Out Other Boxes
Once you have filled up quite a few columns of boxes, you would get a rough idea of the alphabets that the unfilled words would contain. Use this with your knowledge to fill other boxes.
5. Run A Recheck At Times
In order to ensure that your choice of words are correct, you need to run a recheck frequently. This includes reviewing the interlinked grids and confirming whether the words have the same common letter.
How You Can Improve Your Skills
You have got a set of directions that would help you whilst solving a crossword. But you need to realise that mere directions would not help if you lack the proper skills. This section would give you some ways to improve your skills so that you can ace the XL NYT Crossword.
Improve Focus
The key to solve puzzles (or any problem as such) is maintaining focus. Focus on the clues and try to dig up words that would be relevant and fit the boxes. Sip a cup of coffee while solving crosswords to enhance focus.
Enhance Knowledge
You need to have an avid knowledge of American history and politics if you want to solve the NYT crossword. This includes knowing prominent names and administrative designations.
Increase Word Stock
The most important thing is that you need to increase your existing stock of words. Keep surfing through the dictionary or read more materials- till you reach a state where you have the answer to every crossword grid.
Start Small
Meanwhile, you can try out smaller, easier crosswords on a regular basis. This would give you an idea of how to solve crosswords with ease, and you might figure out a new technique as well.
Practice Is The Key
Adhere to the mantra “The key to perfection is practice.” Keep practicing crosswords, ranking up the difficulty each time you get used to a certain level. It would surely be helpful for you. Remember, there is no alternative to practice.
Final Words
Crosswords, although tricky and at times frustrating, are a fun activity. It also helps you kill your boredom while being interactive. Not only that, you would get newer things to learn, further enriching your vocabulary and general knowledge. Solving prominent ones, such as the XL NYT Crosswords, would yield the best results.
You have been given the necessary tricks to make your crossword journey easier. Not only that, you also have an idea of how to improve your pre-existing crossword solving skills. You are now all ready to solve the XL NYT Crossword. With that being said, this article now comes to an end.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does The NYT Crossword Get Published Daily?
Yes. The NYT crossword is published daily in the newspapers as well as the official e paper site of New York Times.
What Does NYT Stand For?
NYT is an acronym used for the American news conglomerate, New York Times.
Can I Solve The XL NYT Crossword?
Beginners might find it a bit hard, but it is not impossible to solve. With the right technique and skills, you can surely solve the NYT Crossword.
Where Can I Access The NYT Crossword?
The New York Times crossword can be accessed physically via the newspaper. Additionally, you can also access the crossword via their official site. Here is the link to the NYT’s official site: https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords.
