Alright, listen up, y’all. We gonna talk about this crossword puzzle thing. I don’t know much about fancy words or nothin’, but I do know a thing or two about gettin’ by. So, if you’re lookin’ to make your own crossword, or just get better at solvin’ ’em, I got some things to tell ya.
First off, you need words, right? Lots of ’em. Now, some folks say you gotta have a big ol’ fancy word list, somethin’ like 169,000 words or somethin’. That’s a whole lotta words, let me tell ya. But you don’t need all that fancy stuff, just enough to get by. You can use their big list, or you can make your own. Just write down all the words you know, easy ones, hard ones, all of ’em.
- Easy words like “cat” and “dog”.
- Harder words like, well, you know, those longer ones.
- And don’t forget them funny words nobody uses no more.
Now, when you’re makin’ your puzzle, you gotta have answers, see? And for every answer, you gotta have a clue. That’s the tricky part. The clue gotta be somethin’ that makes you think, but not too hard. Like, if the answer is “apple,” the clue could be “red fruit” or somethin’ like that. You get the picture? You can even give some extra help by providing an answer sheet, so folks can check their work. If you don’t want folks to see it right away, make a button or somethin’ so they can flip back and forth between the puzzle and the answers.
And speakin’ of help, there’s this thing called “Exolve software” some folks use. I ain’t never used it myself, but they say it helps you make them fancy crosswords that you can do on your computer or your phone. It’s all online and digital, whatever that means. Sounds complicated to me, but if you’re good with that computer stuff, it might be worth a look. They also say you can save copies and such, which is mighty handy I reckon.
Now, if you’re lookin’ for puzzles to solve, there’s this “alphacross” thingy. Sounds like it gets you a whole bunch of puzzles from different places. And the best part? It’s mostly free. You don’t gotta pay no money to get your puzzle fix. You can even bring in your own puzzles if you got ’em, somethin’ about “.puz files.” Don’t ask me what that means, but it sounds important.
Some folks even look up answers in the New York Times puzzle database. They got this tool where you can type in the clue, or part of the clue, or even just the letters you already got. It’s like cheatin’, but hey, sometimes you just get stuck, you know? And speakin’ of the New York Times, they got books and stuff too, with tips on how to solve puzzles and make good clues. A fella named Will Shortz and another fella named Frank Longo, they seem to know their stuff. And there’s this website called *, where they talk about clues and such. It’s all a bit much for me, but maybe you’ll find it useful.
And if you’re really gettin’ into it, you can even start makin’ puzzles for your local paper or somethin’. One fella, he makes puzzles for his town’s paper and he even gives folks tips on how to solve ’em. He focuses on one type of clue at a time, so beginners don’t get too confused. That’s mighty nice of him, I reckon.
So there you have it. Some ideas on makin’ and solvin’ them crossword puzzles. It ain’t rocket science, just gotta use your brain a little. And remember, have fun with it. Don’t get too stressed out if you can’t figure out a clue. Just take a deep breath, and try again. Or cheat, I ain’t judgin’.
Tags: [crossword puzzles, crossword solver, crossword tips, puzzle making, word games, online puzzles, free puzzles, NYT crossword]
