Word Puzzles
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When you were in school and part of a test was what was called "reading comprehension", that was in most cases a word puzzle where you have to use logic, an ability to listen and an ability to draw conclusions to come up with a passing answer. And most people who are good students come up with ways to pass those tests by learning how tests are made and what to look for in those word puzzles.
But even now, we all have our favorite word puzzles we enjoy. Riddles, stories that include mystery or even crosswords or word find puzzles are all kinds of puzzles that take our talent at using the language and creates a game of it. These kinds of games are endlessly popular and you no doubt have your own favorites. But just like we had our little tricks and rules for solving word puzzles as part of school, there are some tips to how to be successful even in the recreational use.
One tip is to use the same approach you had when you learned how to always get a good grade from a particular teacher in school. The same principle applies to word based puzzles, especially crosswords. If you do the crossword in the newspaper each week faithfully, you will start to pick up how the person who earns his living writing those crossword puzzles thinks. He will used repeated themes and clues. By taking note of similarity, over time you will begin doing better and better on the kind of word puzzles you like.
Another trick is to become a master of synonyms. Very often, the clue might be weather and the word you need could refer to atmospheric conditions outside or even enduring a hard situation. So when you see a particular clue word or phrase, if you think about alternative ways to express the resolution to that part of the puzzle, you can often get around a puzzle that was being clever just to trip you up.
Just as you might use a dictionary or thesaurus to find the right words to solve a challenging word puzzle, don’t be afraid to resort to reference materials to turn clues into answers. There are dozens of great crossword puzzle dictionaries that can help you with a clue that just stumps you. You can't know every piece of trivia so using resources to get you over the tough part of a puzzle, you can enjoy solving each section of the puzzle that you do understand. And you learn as you go which is a nice benefit of doing word based puzzles.
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The most important clue to solving any mystery, word riddle or puzzle is patience. Give yourself all the time you need to solve any puzzle you are working on. Most of us work on puzzles in spare time over a series of days. If a puzzle starts to "get to you", don’t be afraid to lay it down to come back to it later or after a good nights sleep. Then when you return and your fresh mind starts solving clues right and left, the thrill of solving a word puzzle will come back to and you will be right back on track having tons of fun with word based puzzles.
