Crossword blog: is it OK to ‘cheat’ when solving puzzles?

One year ago, we reached out to anyone casually interested in cryptic crosswords and beckoned them to take up the perfect pandemic pastime.

In May, a YouGov survey suggested that puzzling activity had more than doubled since the start of lockdown, at least online. The reason is a very simple puzzle to solve. When you are solving, your thoughts are entirely on the puzzle and not on … anything else. Also, the supply of gratification is effectively limitless.

Even with the friendly counsel of our beginners’ series, though, sometimes we all get stuck. So, people have been asking: when you can’t finish a puzzle by yourself, is it OK to get help?

Can I ask a friend?

Of course you can. One stereotype of the solver is the commuter with furrowed brow, poignantly captured by David Nobbs. But many others solve with workmates, with distant relations, in the pub (when possible), in bed. The Guardian’s crossword app even has a “play together” feature, which rather puts an end to the debate.

If you are solving on paper, find a friend who does the same and get into the habit of daily texting. Small pleasures. Can you ask a friend? You must ask a friend.

What about forums and blogs?

Blogs with the previous day’s puzzles (there is one for the Times, one for the Telegraph, one for the i and one for everything else) are a good friend to the solver. Every clue is briefly dissected before the chat begins; in fact, it is worth thinking about regularly solving yesterday’s puzzle so that you can get enlightenment today, although that denies you the pleasure of waking up to find your sleeping brain has unpacked that tricky bottom-right corner. The Telegraph one, Big Dave, goes as far as giving you a hint so that you can still enjoy the penny-drop moment for yourself.

Then there are the places where you can ask others for help, like the Crossword Clue Solver forum, which are full of exchanges like: “Bonzer94: HELP one left – ‘King’s drink knocked back (5)’ R?G?L” “MissThing: Bonzer it’s regal, lager bkwds” “Bonzer94: Doh of course thx MissThing”.

If you take this path, you can see it as a) not having finished, but at least having understood the stubborn clue, or as b) filling the grid by a mixture of necessary means (also perfectly fine: it is your hobby). The same goes for using the Guardian’s “Reveal this” function online – another reminder that there is no rulebook saying you can’t get a bit of help.

Dictionaries?

Put it this way: I use them. There are some puzzles (quiptic, Everyman, Times 2) where you can expect to be familiar with everything the setter asks of you – and there are those where you might encounter something new.

What about filling the missing letters? If you have a library card, you can sign in and search the Oxford English Dictionary for R?G?L to rule out RIGEL, RIGOL, ROGAL and RUGEL. A squint at Google Trends shows that searches for “crossword chart” reached an all-time high in May, although I am too cautious to draw any … trends.

Perhaps the nice people at Duke University, North Carolina, who are behind the solving site One Across could tell us if they have been battered with traffic in the past 12 months. And then there is the crossword-solving dog, but that is a topic we will return to anon.

What if it is a prize puzzle?

Simple. If a competition is still open, the blogs won’t mention it, the forums absolutely shouldn’t and friends and dictionaries remain available to you.

Finally, of course, let’s remember that the Guardian’s vibrant below-the-line communities are among the few civilised spaces left on the web. Seasoned solvers, what have I missed?

The latest addition to our Healing Music Recorded in 2020-21 to Accompany a Solve or Even Listen to is from Iceland’s Ólafur Arnalds. Suggestions welcome.

The Shipping Forecast Puzzle Book by Alan Connor, which is partly but not predominantly cryptic, can be ordered from the Guardian Bookshop.

Here is a collection of all our explainers, interviews and other helpful bits and bobs.