How to Tackle a Humongous Crossword Puzzle

Every December since 2016, print subscribers have looked forward to receiving a special New York Times section called Puzzle Mania tucked neatly into their Sunday newspapers. Puzzle lovers who don’t subscribe to the print edition line up wherever The Times is sold, patiently waiting for it.

This year, Puzzle Mania will be in the Sunday, Dec. 17, paper. A limited number of copies will be available for sale in The New York Times Store on Monday. Those who are interested can purchase the section when the copies go on sale.

By all accounts, Puzzle Mania is a colorful and fun way to challenge your brain during the holidays. The centerpiece of the section is the Super Mega Crossword, a behemoth of a grid that takes some solvers days to finish. This year’s challenge was constructed by Joe DiPietro, who has made 140 puzzles for The Times.

Did I mention that there is a $1,000-prize contest? The Super Mega requires solvers to put certain clues and certain answers together in some way — sorry, my lips are sealed! — to get the final answer. Instructions for entering the contest are included in the section.

Whew. That’s a lot of work. But don’t panic. The Super Mega only has a mere 768 clues for solvers to ponder. (That’s five and a half Sunday crosswords!) How hard could it be?

Not that hard, surprisingly enough. The Super Mega is said to be at a midweek level in terms of difficulty. (The Times’s daily crosswords get harder as the week progresses.) It’s just time-intensive.

And New York Times Games is here to cheer you on, all the way. Following are some tips from the team to keep you going, including one very important piece of advice: This will take a while, so remember to hydrate.

After you procure your copy of the Super Mega, let us know how you are doing with the puzzle. No spoilers, please, but feel free to ask questions in the comments and tell us about your progress.

1. Solve the Super Mega Crossword any way you want. It’s your puzzle.

We get a lot of questions about how solvers “should” work on crossword puzzles. To paraphrase a very wise Jedi completely backward, we say that there is no should. There is only try.

If you want to keep the joy of solving all to yourself, keep it all to yourself. If you want to make it a social thing and solve with friends and family, by all means, go ahead. Solve in your pajamas at home with a steaming mug of coffee, or casually pull out your crossword parasol, as one does, and solve at the beach. We judge you not.

2. If you are a normal human being, don’t expect to solve this crossword puzzle in one day.

I am giving you permission to cut yourself a lot of slack here.

You may see social media posts from people who have solved the Super Mega in an hour. Ignore them. These people are very experienced solvers. And they are dedicated enough to sit down and solve nearly 800 clues in one fell swoop.

You and me? We are not those people. And that’s perfectly OK.

“I definitely don’t do it in one day!” Maudie McCormick of San Francisco said. “When I can, I’ll take off work the week between Christmas and New Year’s, and it’s perfect for those quiet days.”

The Super Mega is a lot to take in. Make sure you have cleared your calendar to tackle it, even if you are breaking the solve up into more manageable chunks.

Oh, one more thing: If you have never solved a ginormous, card-table-size crossword before, don’t beat yourself up if you find that you’re stumped or stalled. This is not a college-entrance exam. It’s not timed, except for the contest deadline (Jan. 7, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time), and is entirely optional. Puzzles are games, and games are meant to be fun. Take your time and enjoy the journey.

3. Sharing is caring. It may also make solving the puzzle more fun.

This tip comes directly from Will Shortz, the Crossword editor. Put the puzzle up on a wall in a common living area and leave a pencil nearby. Friends and family will not be able to walk past it without cracking a few of the clues.

For Jennifer Scheerer, a product design director at The Times, turning the solving of the puzzle into a family event makes it more fun. “Last year we just kept it on the table during the holidays with extended family around, and whoever had a minute to solve a bit did,” she said. “That usually snowballed into a group solving it together over time.”

My family also enjoys this Puzzle Mania ritual, and my children have slowly become puzzleheads who look forward to it. I’ve found that this kind of group solving also leads to wonderful conversations about language that I may not have had with my kids otherwise.

If such wholesome exchanges are not your thing, you can try bragging about your solving time at the dinner table. That will inspire a lively discussion, although you may want to wear a bib on the off chance that someone throws mashed potatoes at you.

4. Keep your favorite treat nearby. A reward system is invaluable.

For me, it’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Yours may be different, and that’s OK. See point No. 1.

This strategically timed treat does two things: It functions as a reward when I conquer a section of the Super Mega, and it serves as a soothing mechanism when I invariably get stuck.

Also, as mentioned earlier, remember to hydrate. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

5. Start with the gimmes. Yes, I know there will be a lot of them.

Some people like to dive right in, start with the first clue they see and then bounce around from there. I take a different approach, because I feel that conquering the entries you definitely know first makes for a more pleasant solve. It also keeps me from giving up.

I like to scan the clue list a few times and write in the answers that I am sure of. Then I cross out those clues. It’s a great visible reminder that the puzzle is not too hard for me, which boosts my spirit.

You can make even more headway by looking for the fill-in-the-blank clues and solving those first. They are usually easy, because your brain will fill in the missing information for you.

By the time you finish these gimmes, you’ll be well into the Super Mega.

6. Yes, it is perfectly fine to look things up. People who tell you otherwise are not being good friends.

Listen to someone who has your best interests at heart: There is no such thing as the crossword police. No one is going to show up at your house and make you feel bad or incapable if you need to look something up.

Searching for answers only makes you smarter. And that’s not so bad, is it?

If looking up answers feels like cheating to you — and it’s not — feel free to ask for help from anyone in the vicinity.

7. Take a break when you get stuck.

This is not a cop-out, I promise. Sometimes your brain just gets tired and needs a rest — or at least a diversion. Walk away and do something else for a while. I personally recommend preparing a snack, but you do you.

Your brain will continue to work in the background on the tricky clues while you are doing other things. When you come back to the Super Mega, you may find that you can solve the clues that you couldn’t before.

8. If you are not familiar with the types of crossword clues and how to solve them, now is a good time to learn.

Jackie Frere, our senior community engagement manager, and Isaac Aronow, the associate editor of Gameplay, wrote a three-part series, “From Mini to Maestro,” that walks readers through progressively harder New York Times crosswords and how to solve them.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

And there’s always our guide, “How to Solve the New York Times Crossword,” which explains each clue type in detail.

Once you’ve carved out some time, procured your snacks and remembered to hydrate, you’re ready. Pick up your pen or pencil and have at it. If you are interested in entering the Super Mega contest, don’t forget to read the instructions carefully. If the Super Mega contest isn’t your speed, there are other contests in Puzzle Mania to enter.

Above all, have fun. We like nothing more than knowing that our games put a smile on people’s faces.

On behalf of the Games team, happy solving!

Join us here to solve crosswords, the Mini and other games by The New York Times.