Christina Iverson offers solvers a challenging Friday puzzle.
Jump to: Tricky Clues
FRIDAY PUZZLE — As I like to say, some days you get the puzzle, and some days the puzzle gets you. This is especially true of Friday crosswords, because the work that goes into solving is much harder. There’s no theme to lean on, the vocabulary may be tougher, and the clues are written to send the solver off on wild goose chases.
But that’s what I love about the Friday puzzles. They’re exhilarating. Solving them is the closest I will ever come to walking a high wire, mainly because I am a chicken about heights.
Still, I am beaten by the puzzles sometimes, even after years of practice. At first, I made very little headway on Christina Iverson’s excellent puzzle. It was a bit distressing, but I used a well-known, tried-and-true technique for breaking through my puzzle block: I put it down and walked away from it.
Task avoidance may not seem like an especially efficient way to solve a puzzle, but it does the job, as long as you come back to the crossword eventually. I’m not sure exactly how this works, but when you return to the puzzle, you see it differently. You may be able to solve clues that stymied you before. Do the avoidance thing a few times, learn some of the tips from our solving guide, and you may find that you’ve conquered one of the hardest New York Times Crosswords of the week.
It’s worth it, in my opinion. If you don’t at least try the late-week puzzles, you’re missing out on some excellent clues and entries. For me, admiring and sometimes giggling at the crossword shenanigans is what makes solving fun.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
