If you've been solving crosswords for a while, you have probably settled into a default approach: start at 1-Across, work through the Acrosses in order, then tackle the Downs. It feels logical and systematic. It is also one of the most common reasons solvers are slower than they need to be.
Fast solvers — including the people who compete at events like the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT) and Boswords — tend to treat the grid as a network of crossing letters rather than a numbered list of questions. They go wherever the next answer is easiest, and they let every confirmed letter make the neighbouring answers easier. The techniques below break that habit down into steps you can practise.
Why Solving in Clue Order Slows You Down
Clue-order solving forces you to attempt most answers in isolation. When you move from 1-Across to 5-Across to 9-Across, the entries don't touch each other, so you often have no crossing letters at all. You are relying entirely on recall from the clue alone — the hardest way to find an answer.
A crossword is a web. In a standard American grid every white square belongs to both an Across and a Down answer, so every letter you confirm gives you a free hint for a second entry. If you fill in a Down answer first, you suddenly have a letter to anchor the Across that crosses it. Solving in clue order throws much of that information away.
The Information Problem
Compare two versions of the same clue: "Opera solo" with nothing filled in, and "Opera solo" with the pattern A _ I A. The first could be several things; the second is almost certainly ARIA. Crossing letters turn recall problems into recognition problems — and recognition is much faster.
The Foothold Method
Instead of solving in order, solve from footholds: answers you are confident about. Each foothold gives you letters in several crossing entries, and those entries become your next targets. You grow outward from what you know, one section at a time.
Footholds can be anywhere in the grid. Some solvers like to start in the top-left corner out of habit, and that's fine, but there is nothing special about corners — the best starting point is simply wherever the easiest clues are. What matters is that you keep working next to letters you've already confirmed rather than jumping to isolated entries.
The method has four phases:
Grab the gimmes
Skim the clues and fill in answers you know instantly — fill-in-the-blank clues, short common entries, names and facts you're sure of. Don't linger on anything you have to think about.
Work the crossings
For each gimme, look at the entries that cross it. They now have a letter or two filled in. Try those next, starting with the shortest, since short entries with a letter or two are usually quick to solve.
Finish a section before moving on
Keep chaining through crossings until a region of the grid is complete or you're stuck. Finished sections give you letters in the long entries that lead into the rest of the grid.
Use long entries as bridges
Long answers (and theme entries) usually span several sections. Once a few of their letters are in place, they are often guessable — and filling them opens up fresh footholds in a new area.
Step-by-Step: Your First Two Minutes
Here's what that looks like on a typical 15×15 weekday puzzle.
Hunt for fill-in-the-blank clues first
Clues like "___ of the Mohicans" or "Once ___ a time" are usually the easiest in the puzzle, because they have one precise answer. Many solvers scan for blanks before anything else.
Other good foothold candidates are:
- Pop culture and names you know cold (bands, actors, authors, athletes)
- Factual answers with only one possible response (capitals, rivers, elements)
- Short crossword regulars you've seen many times: ERA, ORE, ALE, OREO, ARIA, ERIE
- Abbreviation clues — if the clue contains an abbreviation or says "for short", the answer is usually abbreviated too
Chain from each foothold
Say you're sure 1-Across is ARIA. The A, R, I and A now start four Down answers. Instead of reading 5-Across, read those four Down clues. Each one has a first letter, and a first letter is one of the most useful hints you can have.
Pro Tip: Mark Your Guesses
If you're fairly but not completely sure of an answer, write it in lightly (or use your app's pencil mode, if it has one). Use those letters to test crossings, but treat them as a hypothesis. When a crossing contradicts a pencilled guess, it's much easier to let go of it. See our pen vs. pencil guide for more on this.
Read the Clue for Grammar, Not Just Meaning
Clues in American-style crosswords follow conventions that tell you about the answer's form before you know the answer itself. Reading for these hints lets you write in letters with confidence:
- Part of speech and tense match. A clue in the past tense ("Ran quickly") calls for a past-tense answer (SPED, not SPEED). A verb clue gets a verb answer.
- Plural clues take plural answers. "Farm animals" is plural, so the answer probably ends in S — though watch for irregular plurals like MICE, GEESE or ALUMNI.
- Abbreviations signal abbreviations. "Govt. agency" or "Doctor's org., for short" points to a short abbreviated answer like EPA or AMA.
- Foreign-language cues signal foreign answers. "Friend, in France" is AMI; "Year, in Spain" is AÑO (written ANO in the grid).
- A question mark means wordplay. The clue shouldn't be taken literally — expect a pun or a twist.
- "Maybe" or "for example" means the clue gives an example. "Poodle, e.g." wants a category (DOG), not a synonym.
Pattern Recognition and Partial Fills
Experienced solvers don't just know words — they know patterns. After a few hundred puzzles you begin to recognise letter sequences that recur constantly in grid fill, and you often see an answer from a handful of letters.
You can also write in partial answers before you know the whole thing:
- Plural endings: For a plural clue, pencil an S in the last square. It's right often enough to be worth it, and it gives the crossing Down a last letter.
- -ING and -ED: If the clue is a present participle ("Running") or past tense ("Ran"), the answer's ending is often predictable. Filling those last letters early helps the crossings.
- Comparatives and superlatives: "More tidy" often ends -ER; "Most tidy" often ends -EST.
- Common crossword words: Learn the short entries that appear again and again (see our list of common crossword words). When the letters you have match one of them, your brain should fire immediately.
When you have a partial pattern but no idea what fits, a pattern search can help you learn. Enter the letters you have in our crossword solver or word finder (for example ?R?A) and study the candidates. Used after a solve, this is a good way to expand your vocabulary of crossword-friendly words.
The Skip-and-Return Rule
One of the most costly habits in crossword solving is staring at a clue you can't answer. If nothing comes to mind after a few seconds, extra staring rarely helps. Every second spent stuck is a second you could spend building crossings that will make the clue solvable.
The rule is simple: skip hard clues and let the grid solve them for you. Come back once you've filled in some of the neighbouring answers. You'll often find that a clue which had you completely stumped is obvious with two or three letters in place.
Pick a Cut-Off
Choose a personal time limit — many solvers use something in the range of five to ten seconds — and move on when you hit it. The exact number matters less than having a rule, because it stops you getting stuck without noticing.
Use the Theme
Most weekday American crosswords (other than themeless puzzles, which are common on Fridays and Saturdays in the New York Times) have a theme: a set of long entries that share a hidden connection, often explained by a revealer entry near the bottom of the grid. The puzzle's title, if it has one, is also a hint.
Once you've figured out what the theme entries have in common, the remaining ones get much easier — sometimes you can fill a theme answer from just a few letters. If a theme answer seems not to fit its clue, don't force it; that's often a sign of the gimmick (a rebus square, a missing letter, a pun). Our crossword glossary explains terms like rebus and revealer.
Timing Yourself: A Practice Plan
Changing a solving habit takes deliberate practice. Here's a simple four-week plan. Use puzzles of roughly consistent difficulty — our daily crossword and the quick Mini crossword work well — and keep a note of your times.
Week 1: Observation
Solve as you normally do, and record your time. After each puzzle, look back: where did you get stuck? Which answers did you get from the clue alone and which from crossing letters? Just noticing your habits is useful.
Week 2: Footholds Only
Force yourself to only work on entries that cross letters you've already filled (after your first few gimmes). It will feel slow at first; that's expected while the habit changes.
Week 3: Add the Skip Rule
Keep the foothold approach and add a strict skip cut-off. Mark skipped clues so you don't re-read them before you have new crossings.
Week 4: Review
Stop thinking about the method and just solve. Compare your times with Week 1. Improvement varies a lot from person to person, and times naturally bounce around with puzzle difficulty, so look at averages rather than single puzzles. The puzzle archive is handy if you want extra practice puzzles.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Over-committing to uncertain answers. Footholds only work if they're reliable. If you're not confident, mark the answer as a guess and stay alert for contradictions.
- Ignoring the theme too long. In themed puzzles, understanding the theme can unlock several long answers at once. If a long answer looks odd, ask what it has in common with the others.
- Getting stuck in one area. If a section won't budge, leave it. Fill in another part of the grid, then come back with fresh crossings from the long entries.
- Neglecting short fill. Three- and four-letter entries are the connective tissue of the grid. A strong vocabulary of common short fill — ERA, OAR, ALE, IRE, ORE, EON, ARIA — saves time in every puzzle.
- Not checking your work. A single wrong letter means the puzzle isn't solved. Before you finish, scan for crossings that don't make sense.
Putting It All Together
None of this is a rigid algorithm. It's a way of thinking about the grid spatially rather than as a list. The core idea is that every letter you confirm makes the neighbouring answers easier, so the fastest route through a puzzle is to keep building from what you know.
Try it on today's daily crossword: grab the gimmes, work their crossings, skip anything that makes you stall, and read every clue for its grammatical hints. When you want to go further, our speed-solving techniques guide covers the habits competitive solvers use.
Most importantly, be patient. Speed mostly comes from solving a lot of puzzles — the techniques above just make sure that practice pays off.