Login:

Password:





Who's online? | Login | Leaderboard | Anagrams

Skeleton Crosswords And Symmetry

Skeleton crosswords are one of the hardest puzzles there are, and certainly one of the hardest crossword variants - probably alongside the cryptic crossword with the specialist solving skills that puzzle requires.

Like the cryptic crossword, one's ability to solve skeleton crosswords starts off fairly limited, but is built up over time as you learn the tips and techniques necessary to solve them.

One of the most crucial things to understand with skeleton crosswords is that the grids usually exhibit symmetry, and this symmetry can be used to help you solve the puzzle a lot more easily. This is because symmetries put in place certain restrictions as to how a grid must look in a way that an unsymmetrical grid does not. Using and understanding this is one of the keys to solving skeleton crosswords.

So, what type of symmetry do crossword grids exhibit? Well it does vary from grid to grid, but on Wordy Puzzle which is clearly what we're focused on here, they exhibit the most standard rotational symmetry that appears in nearly all crossword grids.

If you are unsure what this means, or find it hard to visualise the rotation in your head, then here is what it means mathematically:

Imagine we have a 10 x 10 puzzle to make the numbering very simple. If square 1 (row 1, col 1) is black, then so almost must be square 100 (row 10, col 10) in order to preserve the symmetry. Likewise if square 2 is white, then square 99 must be white to.

So when you are given information at the start of the grid about certain black squares and certain clue squares, you can use this elsewhere in the grid to make more deductions. In many cases, if you are given 6 pieces of information at the start of the grid, then there are 6 other squares you can mark as a result.

Your solving notation is useful too - clearly if you know where a black square is, then mark it: if you know a square must be white, or it contains an answer in other words, then you will want to mark this too. On paper many people put a dot in a square to mark it, and indeed you might wish to do the same with the online solver here at Wordy Puzzle too so you know that it must be an answer letter square, then fill it in accordingly when you know what it must be.
Date written: 01 Apr 2015



Comment on this post

You must be logged in to comment - please Register or Login

Other Blog Posts You Might Find Interesting...

Cryptic Clues That Refer To Other Clues
Clues that refer to other clues in the grid are quite common when solving cryptic crosswords, and also occasionally appear in quick crosswords, although less often. In the latter case the referencing is usually quite straightforward, such as simply an...
Added: 20 Apr 2015


Wordwheel Solving Tips
When it comes to solving wordwheel puzzles, then there are only really two methods you can use to solve the puzzle: systematic or random. The random method is probably the more common: here you simply look at the letters in the grid, and allow your...
Added: 09 Apr 2015


Learning To Solve Codewords
Learning to solve codewords takes patience: they are one puzzle type that you definitely get better at over time, and can find extremely difficult the first few puzzles you solve. After that you will find tactics that work for you, and will be able to...
Added: 26 Mar 2015


All About Word Ladder Puzzles
The word ladder puzzle comes in two main versions. The first version of the puzzle lists clues alongside it, whilst the second version is open-ended with no clues alongside each rung of the ladder, and therefore is both more difficult to solve and may...
Added: 16 Mar 2015


Quick Crossword Solving Tips
Solving a quick crossword is both straightforward and difficult. Difficult because, with many short clues, there are often multiple words that fit each answer until you have crossover letters in place, and straightforward in that the solving method does...
Added: 30 Mar 2015




Back to Puzzle Blog


Puzzle Types:
Arrow word Puzzles
Pangram Puzzles
General Knowledge Crosswords
Quick Crosswords
Wordwheels
Word Ladders
Word Fit
Skeleton Crosswords
A to Z Puzzles
Codewords
Cryprograms Online
Every Letter Counts