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title: These 5 essential tips will help you understand crossword clues
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Finally: an explanation for those pesky question mark clues!

| View in browser Issue 77 Date February 27, 2024 5 Essential Tips to Understand Crossword Clues As crossword stans, we know that crossword puzzles are great way to challenge your vocabulary and problem-solving skills—and turns out that better understanding the clues is your ticket to solving them fast. Here's a cheat sheet for reading and grasping crossword clues.   ✔️ Pay Attention To Tense Crossword answers will always follow the same tense as the clue. So be sure to pay attention to whether the clue is in past, present, or future tense. Your answers depend on it.    Here's an example from the February 7 level of Universal Crossword:    Clue: Intended Answer: MEANT   ✔️ Mind Plurals and Singulars Keeping an eye out for hints at plurality is another key piece of the puzzle (see what we did there?). Hints like "many," "several," or simply adding an S to the clue's subject are dead giveaways.     The February 13 level of The Modern Crossword demonstrates this well:   Clue: Some short skirts Answer: MINIS    ✔️ Take Note of Parts of Speech Crossword clues often challenge players by using words with multiple meanings or changing a word's part of speech. If a crossword clue hints at a person, place, or thing, the answer will be a noun. If it hints at an action word, the answer will be a verb.   Check out Universal Crossword's January 26 level for what we mean:   Clue: Actress Menzel of “Wicked” Answer: ADINA   And this one from January 24:    Clue: Does some basic math Answer: ADDS   ✔️ What Are Question Mark Clues? While question marks indicate a straightforward inquiry for the rest of the world, seasoned puzzlers will tell you crossword clues with question marks often indicate wordplay or a pun. You'll have to put your thinking cap on for these clues and expect the unexpected—double meanings and clever twists are the name of the game.    The February 6 Universal Crossword level serves up a playful example:    Clue: Hit game? Answer: BATTLESHIP   ✔️ Understand Clues Ending in "Say" 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.    We got a kick out of this clue in the February 1 level of Universal Crossword:    Clue: Puff on a joint, say Answer: SMOKEGRASS   And this one from January 27, which may make you LOL:    Clue: Passed Go and collected $400, say Answer: CHEATED SEE ALL CROSSWORDS Play Puzzle Society Originals The same crossword clue "rules" above apply to Upwordly: Clues that end in question marks signify that the answer is likely a pun, idiom, or some other play on words. Play Your Caved score is determined by the number of clicks it takes you to uncover all the gems, which varies each day of the week. The fewer your clicks, the better your score.  Play There's no shame in restarting a Switch Spots stage! You have three tries on each stage, and using another attempt doesn't negatively affect your score.  Play Head's up: If you complete 25 Squared Away levels, each in less than four minutes, you'll add the "In Harmony" achievement badge to your collection. Play READ MORE Welcome to the Prodigy Club! Congratulations to the following puzzlers for earning a prestigious spot within the Prodigy Club—reserved for the puzzlers who earned the most Society Points the previous week:   \*jcsunya3: 163,420 \*Susanswerphone: 102,200 Puzzler36815: 81,430 \*Kandy Ken: 78,200 \*akajackfrost: 66,020   \*existing Prodigy Club members Riddle Me This Take a three-letter word for a source of metal. Add a letter and you’ll get a demand that a toddler might make at lunchtime. Add a letter and the result is a tasty camping snack.   Send your favorite riddle, brainteaser, rebus, or word puzzle (with the answer!) to thesolutionist@puzzlesociety.com. Include your Puzzle Society display name, too. You might spot both in a future issue of The Solutionist. Last Week's Answer: A STARLING is a type of bird that can be divided in half to get a STAR. A STAIR gets you just a little closer to the sky to see them both. With a dash of pizzazz, Rachel DeSchepper, aka deschloop Add me as a friend (or foe) This email was sent to Puzzler Account Sign In \| Customer Service \| Terms of Service   Andrews McMeel Universal 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106  Unsubscribe Here     |
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