about turn

May 12, 2006 7:04 AM

I love doing cryptic crosswords. I can spend hours over some clues and not get the answers.

I go to sleep and then look at the crossword again the next morning and BAM, I get some of the answers straight away (rinse, repeat). It happens regularly. I talked to my partner about it and she opines that it's because I'm processing the clues in my sleep and so have the answers when I wake up. I'm somewhat skeptical of this, but on the off chance that she's right, what sort of mind exercise could I employ to obviate this sleep time delay to get the solutions quicker. I ask this because the crossword I do has a time restraint on submission of the solution for a prize - from Saturday to Thursday [first one received] (It's only a dictionary, but what the hey).

posted by tellurian to sports, hobbies, & recreation (13 comments total)

I don't know if there is any way to speed up this background processing. I do the same thing all the time - if I get stuck on a problem (usually at work), sometimes all it takes is a couple of hours away from it. When I come back and look at it (or, oddly, when I'm in the shower), I realize that I'm looking at the problem in a different way and now have a way to solve it.

There's probably something in my sub/unconscious that keep turning the problem over. I've never found a way to speed it up, and in fact over-thinking the problem is often counter-productive to this process.

(That's one of the reasons that I don't feel too bad about the occasional extended net-surfing session at work: it lets my mind wander and eventually solve the roadblock on its own.)
posted by flipper at 7:20 AM on May 12, 2006

I dunno what exercise you could do, but you might want to look at the guardian how to solve crosswords and get a systematic breakdown of different types of clues (UK based)
posted by lunkfish at 7:32 AM on May 12, 2006

I dunno if it's necessarily to do with sleep. If I start a crossword in the morning, give up on some clues and then try again in the evening, I've seen the same results. I think it's just that you need some time to process it in the back of your mind. If you concentrate too hard on it, you can, as they say, "miss the forest for the trees". Or some other analogy that is more apt. :)
posted by antifuse at 7:37 AM on May 12, 2006

The same thing happens to me with cryptics. I don't think it's that I'm processing it while I'm away from the puzzle, but just that I'm coming back to it fresh. Like I was thinking a clue worked a certain way when it didn't or just that the right word wasn't popping into my head because I was concetrating too hard, as antifuse describes. Maybe when you're stuck, try taking a break for an hour or so when you don't think about the puzzle, and then give it a skim to see if you get any. Or, don't spend more than a half hour trying to work out a clue.
posted by transient at 8:34 AM on May 12, 2006

"miss the forest for the trees"
or, as they said more recently in the AWB scandal "for the trucking fees".
posted by tellurian at 8:41 AM on May 12, 2006

Same for me, transient. I find if I look at the clue for too long, my mind is stuck in a certain way of interpreting it, and I miss the pointers. Coming back to it lets me see them in a fresh light, and I interpret the clue differently. I need brain space, maybe?
posted by goo at 8:42 AM on May 12, 2006

Perhaps it has something to do with the way one interprets information, like the different learning styles - some clues are easier to interpret the first time because they're written in such a way as to appeal to your style of interpreting information.
posted by goo at 8:47 AM on May 12, 2006

I'm working on an article on this for my website but don't have it completed yet. Basically, this is the process that leads to the majority of the material on my site. I stick it up there because it'd drive me mad otherwise. I'll read an article about a problem one day, sleep on it, and the next day a solution pops into my head. It wouldn't be that bad if that was it alone, but the more I read the more things build in my head so sometimes I think I've got a fairly well developed solution to something in fields I know little about. Very annoying.

Basically, after we encounter a problem our brain works on it even after we're "done" consciously thinking about. In a lot of different ways too. One study showed the general process of encoding the memories but also the brain actually rewires itself to be able to handle the problem better. So if you step away from the problem that rewiring process touches off. Other studies (linked in that paper) demonstrate sleep is important to the process as well, so the next morning when you wake up the brain is literally wired to produce an answer to the problem.

I believe this is the process behind the results in this study, which'll help answer your question about maximizing the effect. Obsessing over a problem will just delay the rewiring effect needed for you to get the right answer. You've got to go into the issue enough for your brain to understand it, so not just reading it but understand how that word needs to fit into the words around it, number of characters, etc., and then move on to the next. I don't know how successful it would be to "load" 20 different problems in and then sleep on it, but if this works anything like memory recall does we you can probably build up the ability. Start with smaller crossword puzzles and go from there. You could also play with the technique and see what works. Do your initial review of the options, spin through again to see if you've got any answers already, and then sleep on it... that sort of thing.

That first study I linked to made it sound like some wake time is needed before going to sleep so I'd do this at least 2 hours before bedtime. I do all my reading between 8am and 3pm (downtime while working) and that is what works for me. You've got to be awake enough to fully understand the problem otherwise the new wiring will just be incorrect so getting a good night's sleep is extremely important.

I just wish I knew all this before I went through college :-)
posted by jwells at 9:04 AM on May 12, 2006

I don't think it's that I'm processing it while I'm away from the puzzle, but just that I'm coming back to it fresh.

I know for a fact that this is not always the case for me (sometimes a fresh eye does help--but I know that when what the OP describes happens, it's not just that in my case). Generally, if I am having trouble with a problem--of this sort or any other--I can let it stew in some subconscious/unconscious part of my mind, and eventually, the problem works itself out and the answer occurs to me. This is almost never at a convenient time, and even less often occurs when I am again actually looking at the problem or puzzle.

I don't know any way to speed up the processing time for this, though. If it seems sleep-specific, you could try working on lucid dreaming, to see if you could direct those processes a little better--but it's also possible that doing so would defeat the purpose--if you are processing subconsciously, consciously tapping into that thought process might divert it. In case it is just a matter of looking at it with a fresh perspective, though, an hour's break as you take a walk or read something else or listen to music or exercise might keep you from having to wait all night. Can't hurt to try.
posted by Cricket at 9:23 AM on May 12, 2006

goo - I'm with you "my mind is stuck in a certain way of interpreting it, and I miss the pointers". From jwells link: The brain can only focus on a few things at the same time, which can lead to some aspects being given undue importance.
I do find that once I have found a plausible answer to the clue that I find it hard to think in another way (I try to make *my answer* fit the clue: (over and over, although it's wrong, possibly) I can see how his might be relevant to my later 'awakening'.
posted by tellurian at 10:09 AM on May 12, 2006

thank you goo and jwells (there is no anagram)
posted by tellurian at 10:26 AM on May 12, 2006

I agree that a lot of the time it's about being stuck on one way of looking at the problem. My brain can get stuck in "don't think about a white bear" mode even when I know for sure that's not the route to the answer.

Perhaps you need a cryptic crossword version of Oblique Strategies to free up your thinking? It's intended for creative endeavours, not analytical ones, but in the broader sense, it's about a bit of a brain reboot.

Turn the newspaper upside-down! Eat something with lots of sugar! Replace all the words with rude ones! Imagine the letters of your anagram are little children in a playground! Throw away your paper, buy a new one and start over!
posted by AmbroseChapel at 1:36 PM on May 12, 2006

I'm not sure the "brain process" is the entire answer. When I get up in the morning, I'm in that mode where you brush your teeth with skin cream, put both contacts in one eye, etc. If I start a fresh cryptic, I can blow through it in just a few minutes. Cryptics started later in the day take me much longer to solve. I've always attributed it to the fact that I'm not thinking linearly right after I wake up and I'm able to get better angles on the clues.
posted by forrest at 4:06 PM on May 12, 2006