The puzzle is created by various freelance constructors and has been edited by Will Shortz since 1993.
The crosswords are designed to increase in difficulty throughout the week, with the easiest puzzle on Monday and the most difficult on Saturday..
How to Play and Game Tools.
The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases that cross each other, by solving clues in the Across and Down columns which lead to the answers.
The New York Times Crossword increases in difficulty from Monday to Saturday..
Rebus and Other Special Crossword Elements
A rebus can be a letter, number or symbol that represents a word, but in many crosswords, the rebus will be a word or group of letters that need to be written inside a single square..
Two of the common ones are barred crosswords, which use bold lines between squares (instead of shaded squares) to separate answers, and circular designs, with answers entered either radially or in concentric circles..
You've probably already noticed that some of the clues contain only a dash.
In crosswords, that usually means that the answer to the dashed clue is the continuation of another entry.
In today's puzzle, it's the end of the previous entry..
How hard could it be? The Saturday crossword is actually the hardest puzzle of the week.
Mondays have the most straightforward clues and Saturday clues are the hardest, or involve the most wordplay.
Contrary to popular belief, the Sunday puzzles are midweek difficulty, not the hardest..
