At A Crosswords (Part 1)

I’m at something of a crosswords. I’ve managed to begin doing cryptic crosswords in the last few months, which is something I was never able to do before even when OCD wasn’t affecting me. But during a moment of optimism I decided to start and actually learn how to do them, hoping to have something to try to take my mind off OCD. It works well because all of the work takes place just through thinking, with no physical actions which OCD can attack. And the reward from getting the answers and finishing crosswords can really help.

I managed to learn how to do them by finding a website Fifteen Squared which is basically where hobbyists publish and discuss solutions to all the UK regular crosswords (the blog posts are published once the submission deadline has passed). It was so useful because they also explain how the clues give the answer. It’s absolutely necessary to learn the ‘rules’ because there are all kinds of standard keywords with specific meanings and common clue structures. I have to say my natural impulse was to find this all very stuffy and smarmy and off-putting. There’s no way to know this system even exists unless someone happens to tell you– a brother told me once years ago after I spent hours trying to solve some clues for one.

Anyway it has worked in exercising my frontal lobes and redirecting brain activity from the amygdala where OCD begins, and boosting dopamine levels.

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