What does fr. mean in crosswords

Abbreviations are usually combined with other elements e. Not knowing any of these will make it much harder to solve cryptic crosswords. It depends how much time you have and how much you enjoy reading recipes. Your subscription will continue until you cancel. You can cancel anytime. On Your Browser. Create an NYT Cooking bookmarklet in your browser by dragging the button below onto your bookmarks toolbar.

One advantage to this style, is that none of the grid space is taken up by the blocks which can allow for more content. Either style of puzzle will be solved in the same manner; the only difference is the visual appearance.

The gimme clues are different for everybody. Maybe you know a lot of sports trivia while somebody else knows all the Hollywood actors. Whatever it is, go through the clue list and see what you can spot. There are a lot fewer words with Q in them than E, so just knowing a crossing entry has a Q in it gives you a leg up on making a guess.

A good technique is to go back and forth between the Across and Down clues. The J and the P are the most uncommon letters, so look at the crossing entry to see if you can confirm either of those letters. Does the O or A help you? Keep going with each pair of letters to see if you can figure out a crossing entry.

It helps to think about how words are constructed in the English language. For example, most plurals end in -S, so any plural clue is likely to have an answer that ends in S. Look at the crossing word to see if that helps and remember the letter before the S is frequently an E.

Thinking about what prefixes and suffixes might be used in the answer word can help a lot. For example, a clue about a reversal of some sort might have an answer that begins with RE- or UN-, while a past tense clue might have an answer ending in -ED. You may find it useful to pencil in a prefix or suffix just to have it remind you of the possibilities. Ready to try it? Will Shortz has selected 11 of his favorite Monday puzzles from our archive for you, so you can get some practice.

Here's a sampling — hand-picked by Will Shortz — to get you started. Learn from them and move on. Above all, have fun. Constructor: The person who creates the crossword puzzle. In other countries, the constructor might be called a compiler or setter. Cross-Reference: Two entries whose clues are linked to each other. In the Mini Crossword below, 1-Across and 4-Across are cross-referenced.

Grid: The diagram of black and white squares that contains the entries. Most daily puzzles are 15 squares by 15 squares and most Sunday puzzles are 21 squares by 21 squares. Interlock: The crossing of entries inside the grid. In theory, a solver should be able to solve from any section of a puzzle to another without having to stop. Symmetry: Standard crosswords have degree rotational symmetry, which means that if you turn a crossword puzzle upside down, the black and white squares will still be in the same place.

Word count : The word count is the number of answers in a crossword. In a New York Times crossword, a themed 15x15 square puzzle typically has no more than 78 answers. A 15x15 themeless puzzle has a maximum word count of 72 answers. A 21x21 Sunday puzzle usually has no more than answers. From being duped by magic tricks to pondering those brain-twisting crossword clues, why do humans so love being fooled?

Of course, some solvers say simply that figuring out a really tricky clue makes them feel smart. Tip: A question mark at the end of a clue means that it should not be taken at face value.

The answer is likely to be a pun, a misdirection, or some other type of wordplay. Ask yourself if the words in the clues might have different meanings from the ones you think they do. These are the forehead slappers of crossword clues. The puzzle maker and the editor are playing around with words and phrases in a clue like this, so free your mind up and think about other ways the words in the clues might be used.

Question everything. But the most important thing to remember is that this is when it really gets fun. It pays to learn both older and more modern slang and vernacular.

And you will certainly learn it if you solve the crossword, dawg. Language is a living, evolving thing, and the entries in the crossword tend to reflect that. Therein lies a challenge: Older solvers have to keep up with our changing language and younger solvers have to learn words that might have fallen out of favor long before they were born.

People who have not yet learned to enjoy The New York Times Crossword tend to believe that it is a stodgy pursuit for older people, but the truth is, there are both modern and retro references in almost every puzzle. Tip: Clues in quotes and brackets will make it seem like your puzzle is talking to you. A clue that is in quotes can be the title of a song, a movie or a book.

But it can also mean something else: A clue in quotes that is something someone might say out loud has an answer that is a synonym for that verbalization. Here are a few examples of clues with possible answers:.

You might also see clues in brackets. A clue in brackets suggests an answer that might be nonverbal:. Tip: Watch out for one of the most devious cluing traps in crosswords: Hiding a proper name at the beginning of a clue. When the crossword constructor and the editors are feeling particularly diabolical, you might see an innocent-looking clue like this for a three letter entry:.

We know. It has a capital B because it also happens to be the name of a professional baseball player, an Atlanta Brave. The puzzle maker and the editors put it at the beginning of the clue to capitalize on sorry , or take advantage of, the capital letter. As we said, there may be a lot of forehead slapping as you get into the late week puzzles, but hang in there.

Tip: When you find yourself cursing at the puzzle because none of your expected answers fit, it probably has a rebus element. A rebus element can be a letter, number or symbol that represents a word, but in many crosswords, the rebus will be a word or group of letters that need to be written inside a single square.

Maybe you guessed right off the bat or you used those crossings! So, start to consider the theme of the puzzle. This puzzle maker made the word AIR a rebus element in eight squares, where the rebus worked for both the Across and Down clues.

And what was the purpose of squeezing AIR into one square? Part of the fun is determining where in the entry the rebus belongs. If you are solving in print, of course, filling in the rebus will simply be a matter of writing small. If you are solving online or in one of our apps, however, there is an easy way to enter multiple letters in a single square. Read up on how to put more than one letter in a square above and then practice with this mini puzzle.

Some clues use heteronyms to misdirect you. We swear this is fun. Imagine how much that unique facet of language enthralls our puzzle makers and editors. And they use it to their advantage. You just have to learn to think like a constructor. How about a short quiz to help you figure this out? Here are some particularly sneaky heteronym examples and the number of letters in their answers.

You might want to spend some time staring at them until the heteronym reveals itself.