WHAT DO YOU CALL A PERSON WHO LIKES CROSSWORD
PUZZLES? A CRUSADE HERBALIST?
IF YOU LOVE CROSSWORD PUZZLES AND MILLIONS
OF PEOPLE LOVE THEM. NOW MORE THAN EVER WE'VE
GOT SOME CLEVER HACKS TO HELP YOU CONQUER THE TOUGHEST
BLANK BOXES YOU'LL ENCOUNTER TIP ONE
FILL IN WHAT YOU KNOW FIRST THAT'S
WHAT'S CALLED THE LOW HANGING FRUIT THAT
PROFESSIONAL CRUSADE HERBALISTS SAY WILL INCREASE
YOUR CONFIDENCE. THE BRAIN LOVES TO FILL IN
MISSING INFORMATION AND WE'LL SEE BLANK SPACES
AROUND COMPLETED WORDS AS A CHALLENGE TO BE
SOLVED. SO DO THE EASY WORDS FIRST
TIP TO KNOW THE MOST COMMON PUZZLE
WORDS. THIS INCLUDES WORDS LIKE ERA
R. AND OR THE
NUMBER ONE LAKE NAME THAT PUZZLE WRITERS LIKE
IS EERIE AND THEIR FAVORITE STATES
ARE IOWA AND OHIO. THE MOST
COMMON POP CULTURE NAMES ARE YOKO ONO
AND BRIAN ENO TIP THREE.
REMEMBER THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE TV SHOW
WHEN YOU GET STUCK ON A WORD THAT GOES ACROSS,
TRY FILLING IN MORE WORDS VERTICALLY
TO ADD MORE LETTERS TO THE HORIZONTAL WORDS
TIP FOUR. IF THE CLUE IS PLURAL,
THE ANSWER WILL BE PLURAL SO YOU CAN ADD
THE LETTER S TO THE FINAL SQUARE EVEN
IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE FULL ANSWER YET. FOR EXAMPLE,
SPIKED WHEEL WORN BY HORSE RIDERS
TO URGE THEIR MOUNTS. THE QUESTION ENDS
IN PLURAL. SO FILL IN THAT? S
IN THE FINAL BOX FIRST, BY THE WAY
THE WORD IS SPURS TIP
FIVE LOOK OUT FOR HIDDEN
CAPITALIZATION, PROPER NOUN ARE ALWAYS
CAPITALIZED. SO IF A CLUE BEGINS WITH
A PROPER DOWN, SUCH AS THE WORD LONDON.
THE ANSWER WILL ALSO LIKELY BE CAPITALIZED.
FOR EXAMPLE, THIS FAMOUS LONDON
LANDMARK HAS KEPT TIME SINCE
18 59. THE ANSWER OF COURSE
IS BIG BEN TIP SIX. TAKE
THE TIME TO MASTER THE ART OF CROSSWORD PUZZLING.
GETTING GOOD AT ANYTHING COMPLICATED. ALWAYS
TAKES TIME AND THE MORE YOU PRACTICE, THE
BETTER YOU GET TIPS SEVEN IT'S
OKAY TO GOOGLE THE ANSWER. THE ENTIRE POINT
OF CROSSWORD PUZZLES IS TO STRETCH YOUR BRAIN AND
LEARN NEW THINGS. GOOD PUZZLES ALWAYS
CHALLENGE YOU TO INCREASE YOUR VOCABULARY
AND IF YOU HAVE TO GRAB YOUR PHONE AND GOOGLE THE
ANSWER, YOU'LL SEE ALL KINDS OF NEW WORDS
ALONG WITH THE ONE YOU'RE LOOKING FOR. SO
GO AHEAD CHEAT. CROSSWORD
PUZZLES WERE INVENTED IN 1913
TO CHALLENGE THE VOCABULARY OF THEIR PLAYERS
AND HELP THEM LEARN NEW WORDS CENTURY
BEFORE SMARTPHONES AND SOCIAL MEDIA CROSSWORDS
REQUIRED THAT YOU HAD TO ACTIVELY INTERACT
WITH THE MEDIA IN YOUR HANDS. YOU HAD TO THINK
AND WRITE THE WORDS BACK IN THE EARLY 20TH
CENTURY, MORE AND MORE PEOPLE WERE BECOMING
LITERATE AND CROSSWORD PUZZLES WERE CONSTANTLY
INTRODUCING NEW WORDS TO THEIR FANS. THIS
HELPED SPREAD LITERACY AMONG ALL AGES,
ESPECIALLY AMONG IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES IN BOTH
ENGLAND AND AMERICA WHO WERE LEARNING ENGLISH
TODAY. CROSSWORD PUZZLES COVER THOUSANDS
OF SUBJECTS AND THEMES. THESE INCLUDE FAMOUS
QUOTES AND ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTES SUCH
AS ONE CREATED TO COMMEMORATE THE LIFE OF APPLE
CEO STEVE JOBS. THERE ARE
THEMES LIKE SYNONYMS, SPOON
TOURISM'S HOMES, CRYPTIC
CROSSWORDS ANAGRAMS AND
EVEN SCHRODINGER OR QUANTUM PUZZLES,
IT SEEMS LIKE YOU WOULD NEED A HANDFUL OF DEGREES
JUST TO UNDERSTAND WHAT SOME OF THESE PUZZLES
EVEN MEAN SERIOUS FANS ATTEND
CONVENTION LIKE EVENTS SUCH AS WILL SHORTZ,
AMERICAN CROSSWORD PUZZLE TOURNAMENT
WHERE YOU MIGHT BUMP INTO CRUSADE HERBALISTS LIKE
FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON AND AMERICAN
COMEDIAN JON STEWART.
AS WE SAID EARLIER, THE CROSSWORD PUZZLES
POPULARITY HAS SOARED SINCE
MID-2020. NO SURPRISE CONSIDERING
MANY OF US WERE LOCKED AWAY AT HOME DURING THE
PANDEMIC, THE PUZZLES TODAY ARE GETTING
MORE DIVERSE AND A GENERATION THAT HASN'T
EVEN SEEN A PRINTED NEWSPAPER HAS
CATAPULTED THE CROSSWORD TO ITS HIGHEST LEVEL
OF POPULARITY EVER.