Chapter 5: Ten Tricks for Successfully Tackling the Trickiest Puzzles 375
Let me give you just three examples of the types of words I’m talking about:✓ An epee is a type of fencing sword.
✓ A gam is a pinup model’s leg.
✓ Another name for margarine is oleo.
Getting Familiar with Common Fillers
In addition to crosswordese, puzzle constructors sometimes fall back on certain
short entries to help them make a puzzle gel. Following are three types of these
short entries you’re likely to encounter if you work crosswords often enough:✓ Compass points: If you come across a two- or three-letter entry whose clue
asks for a direction, you know you’re being asked for a compass point. A
two-letter entry has only these four possible answers: NE, NW, SE, and SW.
A three-letter entry has eight possible answers: NNE, NNW, SSE, SSW, ENE,
ESE, WNW, and WSW.
✓ Roman numerals: If it’s been a while since you’ve worked with Roman
numerals, you may find that crosswords force you to reacquaint yourself
with this numbering system. You may run across clues that even force you
to do some math! Here’s a simple example: The clue “Half of XXVI” requires
that you first know that you’re looking at the number 26. Then you divide
by 2 to get 13, and finally you translate 13 into Roman numerals to arrive at
your answer: XIII.
✓ Latin words: While we’re doing as the Romans did, you may want to
brush up on your basic Latin — especially Latin abbreviations. I explain
in Chapter 1 that puzzle constructors often create entries from foreign
words (and must alert you to which language they’re looking for). Along
with French and Spanish, Latin is a favorite, in part because it’s chock full
of short words (such as circa, vox, and unum) and abbreviations (such as
A.D., ibid, and etc.) that can serve as the glue holding together an unwieldy
section of a puzzle.
Picking Out Plurals
As I mention in Chapter 1, a simple but useful trick when you’re stuck mid-puzzle
is to search your list of unanswered clues to find those written in a plural form.
If the clue is plural, the answer must be plural as well (assuming your puzzle
constructor is doing a decent job!). Using a pencil, lightly write an S at the end of
each grid entry that you know must be a plural word or phrase. You can’t assume