How to Solve Arkadium's Hardest Crossword Ever

Guest Contributor: Stan Newman

Greetings to you, fearless attempter of Arkadium's Hardest Crossword Ever, which Arkadium commissioned me to create for 2024's National Crossword Puzzle Day. That "Day" is celebrated each year on December 21st, the day in 1913 when the world's first crossword appeared in the old New York World newspaper.

You may already be familiar with the crosswords I edit for the Long Island, New York, daily newspaper Newsday, which Arkadium makes available to solvers worldwide. Each week, these include what are widely acknowledged to be the most difficult crosswords to be found in newspapers or online, every Saturday.

If you're a successful Saturday solver regular of mine, you've got the best head start possible. You're already wise to the wordplay tricks and techniques that make those Saturdays so tough. But I've toughened everything up much more for the Hardest Ever, so this post is meant to give you some help.

Here are most of the very small number of clues that are totally straightforward, that mean exactly what they seem to mean: 31 Across. 37 Across, 49 Across, 106 Across, 7 Down, 71 Down.

Nearly all the answers are words or phrases that most people will know or should know. The toughest "real words" in the puzzle are 70 Across and 86 Down.

Two answers (both Across) aren't words at all, only one of which will be verifiable with a Web search. One answer (also Across) is two words, but it won't make any sense without some "manipulation."

Look out for clue words that look like a person's name but isn't, and clue words that don't look like a person's name but are.

The dozen-or-so clues that are just a single word have answers that are synonymous with one of the meanings of that word.

Web searches won't be of much help in figuring out what clues mean, but may be used successfully to verify certain answers you suspect may be correct.

Arkadium has disabled the REVEAL function for this puzzle. It has, however, kept the CHECK function, which you should make frequent use of to verify any answer you're not sure about.

Once you've filled in a few answers in a particular area of the puzzle, make use of a crossword "answer finder" website such as crosswordtracker.com, using the letters of incomplete answers in that area for a list of possible answers that have appeared in other puzzles.

Collaborate with a friend or group of friends via telephone or video-call apps. Talking out your ideas with others can be very useful in gaining fresh insights.

Since "deliberate misdirection" predominates throughout the puzzle, you must be suspicious of what every clue "looks like it means." In other words, make frequent use of your handiest paper or online dictionary to review all the meanings of clues' individual words.

Good luck to you, and have fun!

Stan Newman

Since 1988, Stan Newman has been the Crossword Editor for the Long Island, New York newspaper Newsday, where he is widely acknowledged as America's preeminent expert in customizing crosswords by level of difficulty. During his career, he has also been Founding Editor for the popular "Crosswords with Friends" app, Managing Director of Puzzles and Games for Random House, and has authored or edited over 200 books - including crossword puzzle books, word game books, and crossword reference books.

Stan has written many thousands of his own crosswords over the years, including the first crosswords ever to appear in the Wall Street Journal, People, and Newsweek magazines.

As a puzzle solver, he has held since 1996 the world's record for the fastest completion of a New York Times crossword: 2 minutes, 14 seconds.

Photo credit: Don Christensen

In addition to this exclusive puzzle, Arkadium offers crosswords for every mood, accessible anytime on your tablet, smartphone, or computer. No downloads are needed—just click and play.

Explore more free online crossword puzzles by Stan Newman today:

• Daily Crossword
• Mini Crossword
• Easy Crossword
• Medium Crossword
• Hard Crossword
• Sunday Crossword