Rufo Sanchez

@Francis Same here! If I look back at my archives, I have months and months where I have gold stars on M-W, followed by blue stars from when I started going back and filling in my gaps. Everyone will have their way of learning and I’m sure part of what I’ll say is taboo to some people… but what ultimately got me over the hump was starting to look things up when I didn’t understand or got stuck. For Thursdays, I needed to learn what the possibilities for the puzzle of a Thursday could be; I remember being _really_ upset on one of my first Thursdays when I looked at the Wordplay column and found out the words were going outside the edges (“how was I supposed to know that could be a thing?!?”), and everyone has their moment of shock when they learn about rebuses :) For other days it was mostly just learning about the wordplay, crosswordese and facts involved, and really internalizing how the wording of the clue corresponds with the desired answer. Chris Remo’s videos where he talks through his thought process as he solves a puzzle were also a big help. It’s a big gulf, but it’s not uncrossable. If anything I look forward to the chewier later-in-the-week puzzles now; something that was utterly unthinkable to me several years ago. Keep at it!

@Elizabeth Same here! I think all that needs to happen is to remove the word “originally” from the clue; it works otherwise. (Or could be changed to “once”, if the extra detail is desirable.)