A Word about Crossword Puzzles

The Crossword Puzzle or The Crossword Challenge (as some prefer to call it) is one of the best forms of word puzzles that offer multifarious benefits to its solvers, the world over. The pleasure of solving crosswords is immeasurable and indescribable. It is one of the least expensive and most valuable hobbies that can be developed by anyone, anytime and anywhere. Be it a rainy day or a Sun(ny) day, holiday or a Holy day, waiting in a railway station or relaxing in your workstation, Crossword can be a cheerful companion.

It is an excellent tool for enriching one’s vocabulary, general knowledge and creativity. It is a wonderful way of meeting with and familiarizing oneself with a whole lot of unfamiliar and infrequently used words, digging our memory to recall countless number of “I sort of remember reading about it somewhere…..” kind of words, a golden opportunity to delve into dictionaries to find meanings, check spellings and often times, confirm the very existence of hitherto unknown words, that many a time emerge as “accidental solutions” in the process of solving crosswords. The necessity to browse the Thesaurus, to pick and choose that “One and Only Word” for seeking a solution from amongst an array of words is by no means less.

During the mind boggling exercise in trying to figure out solutions to the clues, facing the challenges posed by some particularly tough clues, in spite of clenching our fists, racking our brains and breaking our benches, one fails to arrive at the right solution. The best thing one can possibly do at this point of time is to allow oneself a break, just forget about it for quite sometime, resume one’s daily routine and get back to it after a while. On getting back to it afresh, many a time, one ends up getting answers within a blink of an eyelid for the same troublesome clues that came in the way of finishing the puzzle. 

To continue reading, click on Structure of Crossword Puzzle
Also read in this blog:
Understanding Cryptic Clues Type "A"
Understanding Cryptic Clues Type "B"
Understanding Cryptic Clues Type "C"

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