Clued in: A recap of the first week of LinkedIn Games + tips for solving Crossclimb like a champ

Welcome to Gametime, a weekly newsletter recapping the past week of games on LinkedIn, what’s new in the puzzles space, and more — brought to you by LinkedIn Games Editor Paolo Pasco. Click 'Subscribe' to join the community and be notified of future editions.

Crossword clues can be intimidating. I know this as well as anyone; when I started solving puzzles, I shied away from crosswords, because I felt like there was so much I needed to know. After trying a few puzzles, though, I learned that half the game is figuring out the language of the clues — conventions that you can use to figure out aspects of the answer. Crossclimb uses the same conventions, so I figured it’d be helpful to list some things to keep in mind so you can attack future Crossclimbs with confidence:

Part of speech: A clue will always match the answer’s part of speech. [Meows] would be a bad clue for CAT, because “Meows” is a verb, while “cat” is a noun. [Animal that meows] for CAT is a better clue, since both the clue and answer are nouns. This applies to verbs ([Blink, with one eye] for WINK), adjectives ([Completely hairless] for BALD), and everything else.?

Number: The same principle applies to singular/plural; if a clue is plural, the answer will be plural. [Animal that quacks] would be DUCK, but [Animals that meow] would be CATS. You can often use this to get a free letter; if a clue is plural, the answer will probably end with an S (this strategy does backfire if the answer is something like MICE).?

“...say” or “...maybe” clues: Clues ending with “...say” or “...maybe” indicate that the clues apply to general scenarios, but recognize that there could be exceptions. For example, POST has the clue [Put content on LinkedIn, maybe] because not all posting is done to LinkedIn, but posting may be done on LinkedIn. These tags are mostly added as the puzzle author feels they’re necessary, so don’t worry about them too much.

Trivia: Clues that ask for trivia facts may seem impenetrable if you don’t know the fact in question, but don’t fret. One helpful aspect of the Crossclimb format is that, just like in a crossword, you can often solve a puzzle without immediately knowing the answer to every single clue. Take, for example, the recent clue [Bird found on Canadian one-dollar coins]. You might not be up on your Canadian currency, but you can solve the other clues and reason out that the answer to this clue might connect the words LOAN and SOON, since those words differ by two letters. From there, all you need to know is the name of a bird that’s one letter away from LOAN, and one letter away from SOON — the LOON!?

?? Pinpoint: By far, the hardest Pinpoint of the week was the May 6 puzzle Types of fish, with just 16% of players guessing the category correctly, and an average winning score of 3.8 guesses. The easiest Pinpoint was the next day’s Associated with apples, with 88% guessing correctly, and an average winning score of 3.3.

For the May 4 Hairstyles puzzle, over 1,500 people saw the clue “Bob” and guessed “builder,” “builders,” or “the builder.” LinkedIn solvers apparently love their animation!

People got creative with the May 7 Associated with apples puzzle, especially when solvers just had the clues “Worm” and “Teacher.” Based on those clues, guesses ranged from “things that like books,” “biologist,” and “school things.” One person used “Worm” to guess “lisan al-gaib,” which may not have been right, but it made me laugh.

The most edifying guess was for the May 2 Terms that come after “mother” puzzle: “Ship” + “Nature” + “Goose” → “HMS Wild Goose,” which I learned is a World War II-era anti-submarine sloop in the British Royal Navy. The name was new to me, but I found it interesting to learn about. Rest assured, though, future categories will not hinge on knowledge of specific wartime vessels. That’s a promise.

Play today’s Pinpoint?

?? Crossclimb: The easiest Crossclimb was the May 8 puzzle ending with two vegetables (BEET/KALE), though we got many comments about people being tripped up by the BELT → BEET step (not to mention people who are used to calling it “beetroot” — affirming I need to run more clues by my British colleagues!) The move to a five-letter Crossclimb on Sunday (the one ending with SLACK/TEAMS) didn’t throw solvers off too badly, with an average winning time of just over three minutes. Way to adapt!

Play today’s Crossclimb?

?? Queens: One puzzle stuck out as being particularly difficult, which makes sense, since it was a whopping 11x11 squares (compared to the normal 7x7, 8x8, or 9x9). This was the May 5 puzzle, seen below, and took people an average of about 7 minutes to solve:

By the way, did you notice the easter egg? This puzzle, which ran on the 21st anniversary of LinkedIn’s founding, contains three regions that are shaped like the LinkedIn logo. Thomas Snyder designs the games with a masterful human touch, frequently leaving in hidden images or elegant design elements (my favorite from this week was the puzzle that used every possible tetromino, or four-square shape). If this is new to you, keep an eye out when you solve future Queens puzzles! If you’ve noticed this, what’s been your favorite design so far? Let me know in the comments.

Play today’s Queens

Want to be notified when new editions are released? You can sign up for reminders for each of our games here.?

This week’s topic: Games and the flow state

LinkedIn editor Leah Smart recently published a podcast and newsletter in conversation with play researcher Dr. Barry Kudrowitz . Smart and Kudrowitz touch on the concept of flow, a state of complete concentration on a task, and note that playing games is a great way to induce a flow state. With that in mind, we want to know:

How can you use play at work to help achieve a flow state?

Share your thoughts in the comments below

Know someone who would enjoy Gametime? Share it with them directly or your network by clicking the “Share” button below!