This thing, they call it “lecture crossword”, yeah, that’s a brain twister. I seen it in the paper, them little squares all over. Makes my head spin just lookin’ at it. Some folks, they real good at it, fillin’ them in like nobody’s business. Me? I just stare and scratch my head.
They say it’s good for you, keeps your mind sharp. Like that old saying, “use it or lose it.” Well, I guess I ain’t usin’ that part of my brain much, huh? But I heard some things, some tips and tricks, you know, from them smart folks who do them crosswords all the time. They say you gotta look at the clues real good, see if they talking ’bout now or yesterday. Like, if it says “walked,” that’s yesterday, not today. Today is “walk,” right?
And they say use a pencil. Makes sense. You mess up, you can just erase it. No big deal. I seen some of those grids all marked up with pen. Looks like a chicken walked across it. Messy, real messy. Pencil is the way to go.
Another thing, they say start with the little words. The short ones. Get those filled in, and then you got more letters to help you with the big ones. Like buildin’ a house, you gotta start with the foundation, right? Same with these “lecture crossword” things. Little words first, then the big ones.
- Use a pencil, not a pen.
- Look at the clues, are they talking about now or before?
- Start with the short words, the easy ones.
Now, I seen some folks, they just fly through these things. Like they got a dictionary in their head. Me, I gotta think real hard. Sometimes I just give up. But they say it’s like a game, these crossword puzzles. Fun for some folks, I guess. Keeps ’em busy. And I guess it’s better than just sittin’ there starin’ at the wall, right? Might as well try to figure out them clues, even if it takes all day.
They even got websites now, for these things. Can you believe it? You get stuck, you just go on the computer and it tells you the answer. Seems like cheatin’ to me, but what do I know? Back in my day, we didn’t have no computers to help us with our puzzles. We had to use our own noggins. And if we got stuck, well, we just stayed stuck, I guess. These young folks today, they got it easy.
This one website, it says it can help you with the “Tennyson lecture LA Times crossword clue answers.” Now, what in tarnation is a “Tennyson lecture”? Sounds fancy. Probably some college professor talkin’ ’bout some old poet. Not my cup of tea, but hey, if it helps you fill in them little squares, more power to ya.
Then there’s another one, says it has the answer for the “Lecture crossword clue last seen in New York Times.” New York Times! That’s a big city paper. Must be a tough puzzle if it’s in that one. And they say they found 40 possible answers! 40! How can there be 40 answers to one clue? My head is spinnin’ again.
They got this thing, they call it a “simple but smart search tool.” Sounds like somethin’ out of one of them spy movies. You type in the letters you know, and it spits out the answer. Magic, I tell ya. Pure magic.
This “lecture” clue, they say it showed up in the “New Yorker Crossword” too. Another one of them fancy magazines. Must be a popular clue. I remember one time, the clue was “dog.” Well, that was easy. D-O-G. But most of ’em ain’t that simple, I can tell ya that much. They like to use them big words, them college words.
These crossword puzzles, they’re a mystery to me. But I guess they ain’t goin’ anywhere. People been doin’ ’em for years, and they’ll probably keep doin’ ’em for years to come. It’s like a little challenge, a little game you play with yourself. And I reckon there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that. Keeps the mind busy, if you have a mind to keep the puzzle. If you like them, good for you. Fill them squares. Win the game.
