Ask a crossword solver whether they use a pen or a pencil and you'll usually get a firm answer. Pen users say ink shows commitment: you think before you write. Pencil users say only the overconfident lock themselves into mistakes. The debate is mostly good-natured, and it has run for about as long as newspapers have printed crosswords.
The short answer: use whatever helps you think clearly. If you want the practical choice, a pencil (plus a good eraser) is more forgiving, and it's what most competitive solvers bring to tournaments. Pen is fine for puzzles you find easy, or when you just like the feel of it.
Where the "Ink" Mystique Comes From
"Doing the crossword in ink" has long been shorthand for confidence, even cockiness. The idea is simple: if you can't erase, you'd better be sure. That's why pen solving carries a certain bragging-rights appeal, especially for the harder late-week puzzles in papers like The New York Times.
In practice, though, ink doesn't stop anyone from making mistakes. It just makes the mistakes messier. A pen solver who writes a wrong answer ends up overwriting letters or scribbling them out, which can make a crowded section harder to read than if they had simply erased.
What Tournament Solvers Actually Use
At the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT), the best-known crossword competition in the US, competitors solve paper puzzles against the clock. Veteran advice for first-timers is to bring pencils, erasers and a sharpener, along with a clipboard, since the tables are often covered with tablecloths. The exception is the championship final, where the top three solvers work on large boards on stage in front of the audience, writing with markers.
Why pencil? Accuracy counts heavily in tournament scoring, and a correction you can erase cleanly is far easier for both you and the judges to read than a letter written over in ink.
| Factor | Pen | Pencil |
|---|---|---|
| Writing feel | Smooth, dark lines, never needs sharpening | Can smudge; wooden pencils need sharpening |
| Fixing mistakes | Overwriting and scratch-outs clutter the grid | Erase and rewrite cleanly |
| Showing uncertainty | Every letter looks equally final | Write lightly for guesses, firmly for sure answers |
| Mindset | Encourages you to confirm before writing | Can encourage lots of tentative guessing |
| Newsprint | Some inks bleed through thin paper | Heavy erasing can tear or smear newsprint |
| Tournaments | Uncommon | The usual choice for paper rounds |
The Real Advantage of Pencil: Marking Confidence
The best argument for pencil isn't just the eraser. It's that you can show how sure you are. A faint letter says "this is a guess." A firm letter says "confirmed by crossings." When you come back to a stuck section, you can see at a glance which letters to trust and which to question first.
With a pen, a guess you made from one crossing letter looks exactly like a gimme you knew instantly. That loss of information, rather than the lack of an eraser, is ink's biggest weakness.
A Two-Stage System That Uses Both
Stage 1: Pencil While You're Exploring
On your first pass, start with the easiest clues (fill-in-the-blanks, short answers, anything you know cold) and write in pencil. Write lightly for guesses and firmly for answers you're sure of.
Stage 2: Ink a Section Once It's Confirmed
When every answer in a corner checks against its crossings, go over it in pen. It's a satisfying ritual, and it tells your eye that this area is done so you can focus on the rest of the grid. This works especially well on big Sunday-size grids, where some regions fall quickly and others stay stubborn.
What About Digital Solving?
If you solve on a screen, the question looks different. Most apps let you delete freely, and many, including The New York Times Crossword app, offer a "pencil" mode that shows tentative letters in a lighter color. That's the digital version of writing lightly. Check and reveal buttons play the role of an answer key.
Our own daily crossword and mini crossword are played online. If you get stuck on a clue, try the crossword solver for pattern matching, or look the clue up in our clue database, rather than revealing the whole answer.
Our Recommendation
For paper puzzles, use a mechanical pencil (no sharpening, consistent line) and a separate block eraser, which erases more cleanly on newsprint than most pencil-top erasers. Write lightly for guesses. Switch to pen for puzzles you find easy, or to "ink in" finished sections. Online, use pencil mode if your app has it.
What Actually Makes You a Better Solver
Honestly, pen versus pencil makes little difference to how well you solve. What matters is experience: knowing common crossword answers, recognizing clue conventions such as question marks and abbreviations, and learning to move around the grid instead of stalling on one clue. Our guides to solving crosswords faster and the crossword glossary are good next steps.
Use a pen if it makes you feel confident. Use a pencil if it makes you feel free. Use both if you like. Just keep solving.