Restaurant Critics Concern Nyt Crossword (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.

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!

As former New York Times crossword editor Will Weng once said, 'It's your puzzle and you can do it any way you please. ' In fact, I'd argue that looking up a crossword answer is good, since you both learn something new and know the answer for next time (as many crossword answers appear time and again in grids)."

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 Times offers the industry's highest rates – up to $750 for a weekday puzzle, and up to $2,250 for a Sunday – and authors are credited.) Every day Shortz and his colleagues choose submissions, factcheck and tweak them, then send them to test solvers.

How hard could it be? The Saturday crossword is actually the hardest puzzle of the week. Mondays have the most straightforward clues and Saturday clues are the hardest, or involve the most wordplay. Contrary to popular belief, the Sunday puzzles are midweek difficulty, not the hardest.

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.

Nikoli Co., Ltd. The largest published crossword has 66,666 clues in total with 33,018 clues across and 33,648 clues down, created by Nikoli Co., Ltd.

Fill in 3- and 4-letter words you know.

Look through the crossword puzzle for shorter words and check the clue to see if you know the answer. Filling in the shorter answers first can give you some extra letters to help you solve longer words.

Can people with dementia still do crossword puzzles? ›

Puzzles – perhaps the ultimate brain activity

For this reason, puzzles are an excellent choice when looking for an activity for your loved one with dementia. Because they exist to be solved, puzzles provide cognitive stimulation, and that is just what we are looking for.

However, many times the blank space can be filled in with two or more words. In easier crosswords, multiple words will be indicated with (2 words) or (2 wds.), but more often than not it will be up to the solver to determine how many words fill in the space. Another hint sometimes used in clues is (hyphenated).

Fun Fact: The Saturday crossword is actually the hardest puzzle of the week. Contrary to popular belief, the Sunday puzzles are midweek difficulty, not the hardest. Mondays have the most straightforward clues and Saturday clues are the most vague or involve the most wordplay.

"How cute!"

The answer is aww.

So the italics are a signal to the solver that the answers may not be entered in a normal manner. “I suppose we could have signaled the wordplay with question marks rather than italics,” he continued. “But question marks typically indicate puns, which the theme answers here are not.

Puzzle hack: Don't waste time puzzling over clues that you can't solve right away. Pick out the easier clues – what you know and fill-in-the-blanks clues – and solve those first. tl;dr: Check your answer by seeing if you can correctly fill in the other entries that cross it.

Unlike the Times crosswords, Mr. Shenk, who is 57 and lives in New York, said his puzzles won't get markedly harder as the week progresses, though Monday puzzles will be the easiest. The Friday puzzle, he said, will have “a little contest element.” Winners of the contest may get a crossword mug.

It's not a science. It's an art. If you do the puzzle on a daily basis through the week, the Wednesday may not always be harder than Tuesday, Thursday may not always be harder than Wednesday. But if you do the puzzle long enough, the trend shows that it does get harder as the week goes on.”