Sudden Wave Nyt (2024)

FAQs

What is the hardest day New York Times crossword puzzle clue? ›

The crosswords are designed to increase in difficulty throughout the week, with the easiest on Monday and the most difficult on Saturday. The larger Sunday crossword, which appears in The New York Times Magazine, is an icon in American culture; it is typically intended to be a "Thursday-plus" in difficulty.

It's Not Cheating, It's Learning

Let me say something that may be controversial, but it needs to be said: It's OK to look something up when solving a crossword.

Every letter is "checked" (i.e. is part of both an "across" word and a "down" word) and usually each answer must contain at least three letters. In such puzzles shaded squares are typically limited to about one-sixth of the total.

Quotation Marks

A clue that is contained in quotes represents a word or phrase that is said in spoken language, not necessarily a direct definition. The answer may be a colloquial word or phrase that has a similar meaning to the clue.

The New York Times Crossword increases in difficulty from Monday to Saturday. The Sunday puzzle is approximately on the same difficulty level as the Wednesday or Thursday puzzle, and is larger than other daily puzzles.

The most famous Schrödinger puzzle, and maybe the most famous crossword puzzle in American history, was published on the morning of Election Day in 1996. The clue for the two central entries read “Lead story in tomorrow's newspaper (!).” A bold clue indeed!

The common theme is a desire to be intellectually challenged. Roughly, people who are more into words are more likely to solve crosswords while people who are more into logic are more likely to solve Sudoku.

These features mean that crossword puzzles cause large areas of your cortex to be active, and stimulate new connections in your brain. The hippocampus will then remember those new connections, strengthening both your hippocampus and cortex.

Improve cognitive function

In fact, studies have shown that solving crossword puzzles on a regular basis can help improve your working memory, short-term memory, and overall brain health.

In case you didn't know, the daily New York Times Crossword has a difficulty curve as the week goes on. Monday is the easiest puzzle, and then Tuesday is a little harder, climbing up to Saturday, which is the hardest day of the week.

What is the world record for the New York Times crossword puzzle? ›

Feyer describes himself as “a mild-mannered musician who developed an addiction to crosswords,” and he posts his solving times every day. There is, he says, a friendly competition among top-ranked solvers. For a Monday puzzle in The New York Times, his fastest time by computer was 1 minute, 22 seconds.

The Monday crosswords are the easiest, and the puzzles get harder as the week goes on. Practice on the Mondays before pushing yourself to Tuesday puzzles. The Saturday crossword is the hardest of the week.

As you go, Connections should get easier. Once you've grouped one category, you have fewer words to choose from for the remaining three, and so on and so forth, until the game is over and you've won.