Confidence BoostĪs you become more decisive and willing to take risks, you improve. The willingness to adjust when wrong overtakes the fear of making mistakes, and error-induced hesitancy recedes as flexibility and speed kick in. There is comfort in sticking to solutions that worked in the past, but once new factors come into play, finding a new solution is imperative. The crossword is a small-scale analogy for more substantial life decisions, those in which mistakes must be fixed to achieve bigger goals. Yet for beginners, there tends to be an innate aversion to risk-taking, which fades as changing answers becomes normalized. The crossword is a game, and whether you complete the game or fail to do so yields neither prize nor punishment. No, they do not go away, but you’ll learn your instincts are not always right, and you’ll benefit from accepting when they’re wrong. With practice, mistakes become less of a problem. Each letter is shared by two words, so if one word is incorrect, its letters will prevent you from finding the words around it. It becomes immediately clear, however, that discarding answers is necessary for success. Early on, it’s difficult to let go of a word that both suits the clue perfectly and fits into the available boxes, especially when the word is confidently scrawled onto a hard copy in pen (one reason the digital version of the NY Times Crossword is superior).

If you do the NY Times Crossword, you are bound to make mistakes - often. The NY Times Crossword app will not leave you with brain mush, but instead with an invigorated mind that is conditioned to take on more consequential life decisions. One app in particular may change the way you feel after using your screens. When used well, devices provide both awareness and the means to spread it - two assets that can make us much more informed citizens. Rather than abstaining from electronics use altogether, however, it might be time to change the apps you use and the ways you use them. Many a day is spent mindlessly perusing games, videos and filtered photos. Cell phone addiction is real, it’s everywhere, and it’s all-consuming, often leaving users with a case of mushy brains. Cutting back on screen time is a fantastic goal - but it’s not an easy one to achieve.

Nyt daily crossword