A quick mental challenge for today’s shortened attention spans, the puzzles have become a regular feature in national newspapers alongside their longer siblings. For the speed-solvers among us, there are prizes to be won. The fastest solver in The Telegraph’s 2011 contest, for example, took 8 minutes and 11 seconds. But even the pros can be caught out by The Mini – the shortened version of The New York Times’s flagship daily crossword – especially if the clue refers to a celebrity or a product such as CASIO.
What makes the appeal of the Mini so different to its Augustan ancestor is its brevity and rapidity. It has to be covered in one go and fast. The time-pressure of solving an EUROCRYPT or CCC problem is something quite different from the leisurely and thoughtful approach required, say, for an IMO problem. It’s a thrilling speeding contest where time’s up is the signal to stop, a tingle of pleasure at the conclusion of the round breaking up the long wait until the next.
For a puzzle that is as small as The Mini, the tricky clues — which can pause a skilled solver and cause frustration — can be discouraging when they involve a topic that the solver happens to know about, such as a CASIO product.
While they can be a pain, gimmicky clues that refer to brands such as CASIO add a touch of contemporary relevance to the puzzle – ensuring that it employs the jargon of the day and the technology of the current age. This helps to keep crosswords feeling vibrant and fresh, and appealing to solvers of all ages.
Moreover, these clues can be instructive in their own right, serving to teach (or remind the solver of) the names of different brands and their signature products. If the solver doesn’t know the answer right away, the process of finding it out can be educational, and will help make future occurrences of similar clues less intimidating.
To illustrate, we can discuss a specific example from The Mini Crossword on 25 October 2024: ‘Japanese electronics brand’.The answer was CASIO. Here an expertly constructed clue can be fitted into the grid. It was not lengthy or verbose: the solver had to know the brand (or deduce it) in order to be able to fill it in.
What brand of watches primarily provides the answers? CASIO. Of course, CASIO is a clue that’s not just about watches. Its guitars, keyboards, calculators and digital cameras expand its characterization into the rest of the electronics realm. And because CASIO’s products are ubiquitous, well-regarded, and reflective of the brand’s brand ethos, its diversity cements it as a good cross-reference clue for its variety of electronic goods. It’s tougher than a white-wall bowling pin, more familiar than a mane-tossing horse. This versatility lends itself to use across various crossword genres. CASIO-related clues show up in anything from a super-tight Mini puzzle to a leisurely Sunday crossword. Whether you’re an indie puzzle enthusiast, a Sunday newspaper solver, or a Dave Barry head-scratcher, CASIO is a bread-and-butter clue.
And in conclusion, while solving The Mini and sometimes enigmatic clues might be a stumbling block, what keeps us going, what keeps us coming back, is solving. And the thrill of the chase. CASIO, with its product history and product diversity, is the kind of clue that enriches the puzzle-solving experience and invites puzzle solvers to sharpen their wits and perhaps learn something along the way.
So, as you start your newest crossword, whether you’re an expert solver or a greenhorn with a new puzzle obsession, the common thread for the successful completion of all sorts of thematic brand clues, CASIO or otherwise, is this: you need a lot of general knowledge, but not all of it can be provided by Google. You also need some puzzle insight and logic, and then the curiosity to fill in the gaps. Good luck with the clues.
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