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Scanning a grid without getting lost

Grids reward method more than sharp eyes. The same three habits make word searches faster and criss-cross puzzles almost mechanical.

Habit 1: start where the grid is thin

In a word search, common letters such as E, A or S appear everywhere, and every one of them is a false start. Rare letters — K, W, Y, Z, J, or a double letter — appear in only a few cells. Find the word on your list that contains the rarest letter, locate those few cells, and check the eight lines that run through each of them. Each room page tells you which word to begin with for exactly this reason.

In a criss-cross puzzle the equivalent of a rare letter is a rare length. If only one word has seven letters and only one run of the grid has seven squares, that placement is certain.

Habit 2: one direction at a time

Eyes that jump between rows, columns and diagonals skip words. Instead, sweep: every row left to right, then every column top to bottom, then the diagonals. On the top floor of Word Search add one more sweep, right to left, because backwards words are the ones people miss. Each sweep only looks for the first two letters of the remaining words, which keeps it quick.

Habit 3: let each placement do work for you

In a criss-cross grid every word you place prints its letters into the words that cross it. After each placement, look at the crossing places that now have a letter and ask which remaining words have that letter at that position. Often only one does.

  • Place the unique lengths first.
  • Then the long places, because they have the most crossings.
  • Then follow the newly printed letters.
  • Leave the many short words for the end, when they have few choices left.

When you are stuck

Stop searching for the word and search for a pair of its letters instead: the first two, or a distinctive pair in the middle. In a criss-cross, list the candidates for one place on paper; seeing them written often shows which crossing letter decides between them. And there is no shame in a hint — the room still lights up when you finish.