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Culture

How Puzzlers Balance Tricky Clues and Fun Words

GET A CLUE

From names that aren’t in the spotlight to words from other cultures, tricky clues make puzzles more interesting.

Matt Gaffney

Published Dec. 14, 2020 4:55AM ET 

Rebecca Tulis

Some tricky crossings in this week's puzzles! On Tuesday, we had [Directions-finding app] at 10-A for WAZE and [Hyundai model] at 3-D for AZERA, crossing at the Z.

What's so tricky about that? Nothing, if you knew one or both of those answers. If you didn't, that Z might've been tough to guess for three reasons. First, they're both brand names, so you either know 'em or you don't. Second, neither is a standard English word, so they couldn't be puzzled out by going through your mental dictionary. And third, they're both car-related, so if you're not a driver (or just not that into cars), you might've just been guessing.

Another tricky crossing came on Thursday, where NADIA and ADA crossed, clued as [Gymnastics great Comaneci] and [Early computer programming pioneer Lovelace]. Comaneci is one of the all-time gymnastics greats but was at her peak in the 1970s, so it's entirely possible to be unfamiliar with her. Ada Lovelace is a famous historical figure but not quite a household name, so again, a missable letter.

Besides tricky clues, vocabulary that’s worth knowing and tough-but-fair is another way to up the difficulty level in puzzles. This week we had possible-not-to-know ARCANE, MURSE, and HALAL, and in recent weeks we've also had BINDI, BEEMER, EQUINE, DIEU, EUDORA, and SPY-FI. But what fun would crosswords be if you were already familiar with every single word in them?

Learn a new word from crosswords? Tweet it at #beastxword so we'll all know it.

Play today’s puzzle and sign up for our weekly crossword newsletter on the bottom of the puzzle page.

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