“When I first started, I could barely finish a Tuesday puzzle,” he says. That said, Chen is confident anyone can eventually master the Gray Lady’s crossword with a bit of grit and dedication. (Nothing rude, though - in 2006, the inclusion of the word SCUMBAG drew dozens of complaints due to its occasional use as a synonym for condom.) ETS, for instance, isn’t a word, but with the clue “Kept in Area 51, supposedly” it sort of is. Some linguistic gymnastics will generally be required of the setter ( and longtime NYT crossword editor Will Shortz ) to make it all fit - tightly packed grids often involve shoehorning abbreviations, obscurities, initialisms and occasional luck-pushers into them. Fun! But there will also frequently be clues that don’t exactly seem like they require high-level smarts - knowing “Actor Benjamin of Law & Order ” is BRATT isn’t, like, an ooh, look at how clever that guy is feat. In another, the clue “Bearing small arms” had the answer TREX, i.e., T-rex - pretty much a joke. For instance, a recent NYT crossword clue was “Gold star,” with the answer SIMONE BILES - impossible without getting a few words criss-crossing it first. Clues are generally a couple of words long, and are a mixture of those that require a bit of lateral thinking and more straightforward filler to make the others doable. Monday’s puzzle is meant to be solvable by “ anyone in America ,” and up it goes. It also operates on a weekly schedule, increasing in difficulty from Monday to Saturday (with Thursdays occasionally going a bit weird) - on Sunday, the crossword is bigger but around the middle difficulty-wise. The crossword generally has a theme linking the longest words in it. Understanding how the puzzle works, for instance, will prove extremely helpful. The second time is easier, the third time even more so, and by the tenth time, you’re finding yourself filling in an entry without needing a single crossing letter.” “You’ll likely fail the first time you encounter a certain type of trick or entry. “You need to have some basic vocabulary and knowledge, but so much of solving crosswords is repetition,” Chen explains.
Chen knows a hell of a lot about the New York Times Crossword - he has set it over 100 times and both solves and analyzes it daily, providing commentary and insight on the process at Xword Info. There are definitely elements of both, according to Jeff Chen.
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