WSJ Crossword August 5 2024 Answers (8/5/24) - Try Hard Guides (2024)

FAQs

What is the hardest day for the NYT crossword? ›

The crosswords are designed to increase in difficulty throughout the week, with the easiest on Monday and the most difficult on Saturday. The larger Sunday crossword, which appears in The New York Times Magazine, is an icon in American culture; it is typically intended to be a "Thursday-plus" in difficulty.

Most cryptic crosswords provide the number of letters in the answer, or in the case of phrases, a series of numbers to denote the letters in each word: "cryptic crossword" would be clued with "(7,9)" following the clue. More advanced puzzles may drop this portion of the clue.

The most famous Schrödinger puzzle, and maybe the most famous crossword puzzle in American history, was published on the morning of Election Day in 1996. The clue for the two central entries read “Lead story in tomorrow's newspaper (!).” A bold clue indeed!

The simplest kind of wordplay hint is a second definition. For example, HOOD can mean "gangster" or "a cover for the head." So a clue for HOOD might read: "Cover for the head gangster (4)." (The number in parentheses indicates how many letters are in the answer.)

A renowned British crossword maker called Marc Breman created in 2018 what's thought to be the world's hardest cryptic crossword to date. Not only are the clues fiendishly hard, but the crossword itself is rather large, with 64 clues.

Mondays have the most straightforward clues and Saturday clues are the hardest, or involve the most wordplay. Contrary to popular belief, the Sunday puzzles are midweek difficulty, not the hardest. They're just bigger.

“Anag” is an abbreviation for the word anagram, which means a word, phrase or a sentence formed from another by rearranging its letters arbitrarily. Art is an anag for the word rat. C.H.

However, many times the blank space can be filled in with two or more words. In easier crosswords, multiple words will be indicated with (2 words) or (2 wds.), but more often than not it will be up to the solver to determine how many words fill in the space.

What do circles in the NYT Crossword mean? Circles in a crossword highlight a theme for the puzzle. They either spell out what the theme is, words or letters related to the theme, and/or are in a pattern illustrating that theme. They provide extra clues to how each needs to be filled out.

Mondays have the most straightforward clues and Saturday clues are the hardest, or involve the most wordplay. Contrary to popular belief, the Sunday puzzles are midweek difficulty, not the hardest. They're just bigger.

What is the most common crossword word? ›

New solvers often ask, “What does it mean when a clue is in brackets?” The answer is that some clues indicate a form of communication.

If your crossword puzzle clue ends in “say,” this typically indicates that the answer belongs to a broader category. Before you pencil in 31-Across, keep in mind that clues that end in “say” aren't always one-to-one synonyms—multiple answers may fit the definition and interpretations may be broad.

The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases that cross each other, by solving clues in the Across and Down columns which lead to the answers. The New York Times Crossword increases in difficulty from Monday to Saturday.

Our difficulty scale increases through the week, with the easiest puzzles on Monday and hardest on Saturday. Sunday puzzles should reflect midweek difficulty levels. Clues should be fresh, colorful and precise. Try to be original, and inject humor where possible.

The Monday crosswords are the easiest, and the puzzles get harder as the week goes on. Practice on the Mondays before pushing yourself to Tuesday puzzles. The Saturday crossword is the hardest of the week.

About LA Times Crossword

Edited by Patti Varol, the LA Times Crossword puzzle is full of music, TV, and film references. This typically themeless crossword puzzle gets harder as the week goes on.