Most of NYT crossword difficulty comes from the clues just being bad. amirite?

I don't know if I fully agree, but I do agree that crosswords difficulty has this weird meta challenge where it can be less about actually knowing the information hinted by the clue and more about knowing the weird ticks and obtuse phrasings common to the crossword clues. It's like there's a decoder booklet you can just the translate the clues into English before you can even start to understand what they are asking you.

by dachisidro 2 days ago

I agree that there is a convention to the hints, and the crosswords become easier as you start to understand that convention. But that's part of the fun IMO. I hate crosswords where the questions are just straightforward trivia. "Star of 1994 comedy The Mask" style hints make for a terribly boring crossword.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Cameron Diaz?

by Both_Performance 2 days ago

The dog.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

The American version of Cockney Rhyming Slang

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Speaking of, when the clue is simply in another language, like I don't speak Spanish (well) so how tf am I supposed to even get this?

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Same. There are occasional hints that I think are poorly done, but 95% of the time I love the "aha!" moment when it clicks

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Can you give some examples?

by Available-Low 2 days ago

Solve this one and the NYT might hire you: the clue = hijklmno The answer: water. That's how bad it is.

by Samson58 2 days ago

H to O. Honestly kind of clever but I can see the frustration

by Virginie69 2 days ago

I dont understand can someone explain please

by ada92 2 days ago

It's the letters in the alphabet from H to O. H2O. There's no chance I would've gotten this without the answer given though.

by bettyleuschke 2 days ago

You're not necessarily supposed to get every answer from the clue alone. You solve other clues that give you hints and when you finally solve it and get that "aha" moment, that's what it's all about.

by Weak_Recognition5326 2 days ago

Oh I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I think these clues are very clever. I'm just not very clever. Although so many of the clues on the NYT crosswords seem similar to this (from the few I've played), so it's hard even to get letters from other words that you fill out.

by bettyleuschke 2 days ago

The key to getting good at crosswords is to start with the one on Monday, it's the easiest and will teach you the small tricks (e.g. if the clue is plural you can almost always put an s in the last box and it's a free hint for the connecting clue). Sunday crosswords are by far the most difficult.

by Weak_Recognition5326 2 days ago

Saturday is the most difficult

by Kertzmannzacker 2 days ago

You're right

by Weak_Recognition5326 2 days ago

H to O. H2O

by Joshuaroberts 2 days ago

H to O

by Anonymous 1 day ago

The next letter in the alphabet is P. P as in pee, and what makes you need to pee? Water. It's not bad working backwards, and I can understand how you might get that while making the hint, but there's no way that's working without knowing the answer

by luettgenlayla 1 day ago

hahahaha I love the confidence for this very wrong (but creative) answer

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Sorry how else are you meant to get water from that? Also loving this argument making OPs point

by luettgenlayla 1 day ago

It's H to O. Water The letters of the alphabet from 'h' to 'o' are hijklmno

by Anonymous 1 day ago

H2O is the chemical formula for water. If you don't know that it makes this super hard. It's not jeopardy that is just facts, but it mixes facts with thinking from a different viewpoint to acquire the answer.

by Objective_Stop2761 1 day ago

This one seems perfectly fine. I'd rather try to solve something like this than just esoteric trivia for people with photographic memories. You also get clues answering the cross questions.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Same. This is way better than just expecting us to know the winner of some music award in 1968 or whatever. I'm just gonna Google that.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Okay, but I love clues like this. You're not meant to get it immediately. Crosswords would be way too easy if that was the case. You get it by filling in words in the area and eventually, once you have some of the letters, it either clicks or you just get it by getting all of the crosses.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Water comes before pee?

by Anonymous 1 day ago

If this had a question mark after it then it's perfectly valid

by Automatic_Escape 1 day ago

This is a great clue! Have you tried not doing crosswords? Sounds like they might not be for you (and that's ok)

by Anonymous 1 day ago

No that's a great example of a solid puzzle actually. You may just not like puzzles, and thats ok too!

by Anonymous 1 day ago

The clues get more obtuse, but I'm not sure how else you expect the difficulty to higher?

by Square_Butterfly4418 1 day ago

Skill issue

by bogantamara 1 day ago

sure. but these puzzle tickle a very specific set of still. i regularly fail at puns, when written. i get that there is a joke, but i don't get it. because i don't have an inner voice. i have to speak them aloud to get them.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

You're just proving their point. Being able to identify written puns is a skill that you don't have. The definition of a skill issue. It would be like me saying that basketball is a bad game because I have a terrible jump shot.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

As a Canadian playing the NYT crossword I sometimes find it frustrating that the clues are so American

by Standard-Debt-4697 1 day ago

Yea some of its far fetched.

by Hipolito97 1 day ago

Isn't that the entire point?

by Aggressive-Gene9004 1 day ago

Ya'll would never survive trying to play the games as non-Americans

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I have a personal rule that I'm allowed to google any answer that I understand to be asking about American sports, politics or more obscure geography. And only after I've filled in everything else (sometimes I can guess). There is simply no way I could do them otherwise. There are way too many proper noun answers.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Even as an American I'm not afraid to Google those.Very often I see a clue that's like "1972 winner of the Tony award for best musical" or something like that and I have no idea. I will try fill in enough letters through other hints to make a guess, but if that fails and I am stuck you better believe I'm asking Google

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Playing nyt connections would give OP a brain aneurysm

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I play each of their games daily. Connections is a lot simpler.

by Victor94 1 day ago

Idk I feel like the clues of connections are a lot more obscure. I still haven't gotten over this one: ENDING WITH HOMOPHONES OF PARTS OF THE LEG: CRYPTO, DECAF, DISNEY, PRUSSIAN

by Anonymous 1 day ago

That's a hilariously obtuse set lol.

by Weak_Recognition5326 1 day ago

I got the first 3, but what's Prussian?

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Shin

by FinancialAdagio9946 1 day ago

They put it behind a paywall, I wouldn't know.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Do you say this about restaurants you've never visited? Theme parks you haven't been to? Do you expect all services to be available to you at no cost?

by Elody22 1 day ago

Nah just things I have visited when they were free then got put behind a paywall.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

There are some free daily games that are worth checking out if you like word games. Connections is fun.

by Weak_Recognition5326 1 day ago

You just do not understand crossword puzzles. Do a Monday NYT crossword and you will find what you are looking for. The sunday crossword clues are not bad, they are just not direct.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

The bigger problem is the squares with two letters.

by BrilliantBison5279 1 day ago

Or when the answer is actually two words Or a f**king # Or a different spelling of a word: Tsar, Czar, Tzar have all appeared.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Examples bro

by Marquardtpamela 1 day ago

Idk I don't even play the mini since they want me to pay for it now

by Impossible_Volume516 1 day ago

Can you give example(s) of clues you consider "bad" as opposed to just clever?

by Elody22 1 day ago

"They're making it difficult for the sake of difficulty." Yes it's more difficult. As advertised. People who play these games think they're owed a perfect streak.

by Additional_Art 1 day ago

Experience is more valuable than knowledge here. Being familiar with the writer's approach to hints will make things soooooo much easier.

by matilda48 1 day ago

One's that expect you to know things about celebrities piss me off. I don't gaf about celebrities' or politicians' lives

by Anonymous 1 day ago

In general, the puzzle is as hard as the shortest clues. When the setup is 4-5 very long a rock clues it can be hard to get started. I've been doing the puzzle for 40+ years and I am disappointed at how easy it has become.

by Numerous-Oil 1 day ago

This is also true of jeopardy. Really obtuse trivia question plus a really easy hint to get the same answer. I don't feel like it was that way when I was little but also may have just flown over my head then

by Slight-Leg6048 1 day ago

Lmao I love it when people say that it's bad for puzzles to be challenging. "Clearly I can't be dumb. It's the puzzle that's the problem!"

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I agree with you. I love crosswords but I have a book of NYT crosswords that has a few pages half done. The clues are needlessly obscure and vague, and a lot of the clues are too short to be meaningful. I want to test my knowledge and problem solving skills, not try to decipher some egomaniac's word vomit.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

"Clever" and "satisfying" to you are "just bad" to others, and vice versa. The puzzles are harder because less people are likely to guess all of the clues, and you fell into that group. That's the nature of crosswords.

by Cody11 1 day ago

But the problem is that the reason they can't figure out the clues is because the clues just aren't good

by Anonymous 1 day ago

The key to having good or bad clues is a consistent structure and syntax across puzzles. NYT used to be very good at this but I haven't done the puzzles as much in the last few years

by LocksmithBusy9404 1 day ago

You don't see bones at the dinosaur exhibit, those are fossils

by Anonymous 1 day ago