’ve seen a significant improvement in my NYT Mini Crossword solve times. My average, which hovered around 3 minutes and 50 seconds for the longest time, has now dropped to 2 minutes and 22 seconds since my last update in November.
I’m still using ChatGPT to help me understand clues when I get stuck, and this seems directly linked to my faster times. However, I suspect most of the improvement comes from my incremental learning approach, a mindset I carried over from decades in management, where I learned to embrace being an incrementalist.
What Is Incremental Learning?
Incremental learning isn’t so much a study method as it is a life philosophy. It emphasizes baby steps forward, small, deliberate actions that build skill or understanding over time. Progress isn’t measured in dramatic breakthroughs but in subtle, compounding gains.
When an incrementalist hits resistance, they don’t give up. Instead, they reduce the size of the step, shift their strategy, or even accept temporary regression as part of the process. Like Kaizen, it’s built on the belief that mastery doesn’t come from sudden leaps but from the quiet accumulation of durable improvements.
My Crossword Timeline: A Personal Case Study
- Two years ago: I couldn’t solve a crossword on my own.
- One year ago: I struggled with the mini, often taking 10 minutes.
- Six months ago: I started solving the daily puzzle—with help. The mini dropped to about 5 minutes.
- Two months ago: The mini dropped to around 4 minutes, then to 3.
- Now: I’m sitting just above 2 minutes.
Do I have a goal? Not exactly. I just want to be able to solve any crossword I set my mind to, and I’m inching closer to that every day.
How I Practice (Without Really Practicing)
I don’t spend a lot of time on this goal. A typical daily puzzle takes me about five minutes. If I stumble, or even fail. I treat it as a learning opportunity. I’ll often follow up with a short session using ChatGPT to unpack clues or explore word meanings.
Recently, I hit a frustrating six-minute solve. I couldn’t crack it, mostly because I struggle with pop culture references: movie stars, Broadway actors, etc. That gap shows up more in daily puzzles and continues to slow me down or stop me entirely.
Spelling: My Next Frontier
Right now, spelling is my biggest challenge, and the biggest time sink. I am improving, and I credit crossword-solving for that. Still, it’s time to apply my incrementalist mindset directly to spelling.
It’s scary because spelling has always been my Achilles’ heel, but it’s clear that this is my main failure mode. Always has been. And the only way to get past it is to face it. Slowly. Incrementally.
Friendly Competition: Flo as My Gauge
My wife Flo is a puzzle master. I compare my solve times with hers, not to compete, but to gauge difficulty. If she solves a mini in under a minute and it takes me three, I know the issue lies with me.
It often does. But even that is beginning to change.
Peanuts In My Pocket 
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