Solving crossword puzzles requires the solver to have a good grasp of general knowledge, but sometimes that general knowledge just isn't in our personal wheelhouses. All right. We're here to help you sort that out... and help you build those wheelhouse extensions.
Even if you've never seen an opera in your life, use this list of common crossword terms to take your puzzle to the next level.
In this series of words, we will look at topics that may confuse you, that often appear in crosswords, so next time you will wonder what Renato sang in "Masquerade Ball" when he found out that his wife is cheating on him (either is "ERI TU"), feel free to fill it out.
We'll also show you how to identify these terms so you can recognize them the next time they come up. Tips for word games that will fool youboldto help you identify them and learn to think like puzzle makers.
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1.„AIDA”
Aida is an opera by Giuseppe Verdi that was first performed in 1871. The action takes place in ancient Egypt, especially during the conflict with neighboring Ethiopia.
Aida, the daughter of the Ethiopian king Amonasr, is a slave who serves the Egyptian princess Amneris. Amneris is in love with Radames, the commander of the Egyptian army, but he and Aida like each other, which creates a complicated love triangle. Throughout the opera, Aida is torn between her love for Radames and her loyalty to her homeland, especially when her father is captured and taken to Egypt.
Tim Rice also adapted "Aida" into a musical in 2000 with music by Elton John.
Possible clues: "Verdi's Opera", "Egyptian Opera", "Verdi's Heroine", "Elton John/Tim Rice Musical", "Opera Set on the Nile", "Slave of the Opera", "Radames' Lover in the Opera" , "Classical Opera that adapted by Elton John", "Her final scene takes place in a tomb."
Sources: MetOpera.org, XWordInfo.com
2.ARIA
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In opera, an aria is a solo vocal performance accompanied by music, often used to emphasize the main character's thoughts and emotions. ARIA is one of the most common words appearing in The New York Times crossword puzzles, with more than 350 appearances over the past 25 years.
Arias became popular in opera at the beginning of the 17th centuryºcentury, starting with Monteverdi's Orfeo. Since then, they have taken different forms in terms of length, tempo, mood and melody.
Fun fact: Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau once openly protested against the use of a "da capo" aria that returns to its original melody after the second passage, citing a strange juxtaposition of moods.
Possible tips:Na primjeru „Diva Delivery”, „Song for a Diva”, „Operatic Solo”, „Met Song”, „Opera Highlight”, „Da capo ___”, „Puccini Play”, „Celeste Aida” ”"What does the fat woman sing?","For example, Mozart's Il Mio Tesoro," "A casino in Las Vegas with a musical name."
Sources: Britannica.com, XWordInfo.com
3."THAT WAS YOU"
“Eri tu' is one of the most famous opera arias in The New York Times Crossword, due to the usefulness of the vowel-consonant-vowel letter pattern when putting together a puzzle. The baritone Renato sings in Verdi's Masquerade.
Italian for "it was you," the title stems from Renato's sense of betrayal after his wife Amelia is discovered cheating on her friend Riccardo, a Boston nobleman. In his room, Renato sings "Eri tu" sadly, having decided to punish Riccardo for his crimes.
Possible clues to ERI: "'___Ti' by Verdi,”"'___ Tu" (Verdi's aria)", ""___ Tu" (para Renato aria)", "A form of the Italian verb "to be".
Possible clues to ERI TU: "Aria Verdi", "Aria 'Un Ballo in Maschera'", "Aria Verdi for baritone", "Title of Arya meaning "It was you", "Aria ending "O depositi d'amor!"
Ezio Pinza was an Italian-born bass singer whose operatic career spanned almost 30 years (1919-1948). Pinza's name was used 113 times in The New York Times crossword puzzle.
Mr. Pinza studied vocal music at the Bologna Conservatory and later performed in opera houses throughout Italy. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1926, but is best known to audiences as Emile de Becque in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway production of South Pacific.
Mr. Pinza is known for its resonant bass. His notable roles include Figaro and Boris Godunov.
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possible clues: "Basso Pinza", "South Pacific Pinza", "Opera Singer Pinza", "Pinza from the Met", "Co-star with Mary in "South Pacific", "Name in Opera Lore".
Sources: Britannica.com, XWordInfo.com
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5.ISOLATED
Isolde is the heroine of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, an opera inspired by Celtic legend and tradition.
Isolde is an Irish princess who loves magic and falls in love with Tristan after drinking a potion that was supposed to kill them both. The theme of death is explored throughout the opera.
Possible clues: "Wagner's heroine", "Tristan's love", "Tryster with Tristan", "Kraljevic Mark's bride", "Wagner's soprano", "legendary Irish princess", "singer of Wagner's aria "Liebestod"".
Sources: MetOpera.org, XWordInfo.com
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6.LADDER / STAIRS
Teatro alla Scala, better known as La Scala, is an opera house in Milan, Italy. Created at the end of the 18th centuryºcentury, is considered one of the best theater spaces in the world. Famous names associated with La Scala include composer Giuseppe Verdi and conductor Arturo Toscanini.
However, La Scala stands out from other major European opera houses because it hosts new composers as often as it offers classical pieces.
Note: In addition to opera, SCALA may occasionally tip Italian actress Gia Scala.
Possible tips for LA SCALU: "Milan Opera", "Where Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" premiered", "Italian tourist attraction", "Literally "stairs"
Possible clues to SCALA: "La ___ de Milan", "Teatro alla ___", "Where "Othello" premiered, with "La", "Actress Gia", "Actress with "The Works of Navarone".
Sources: Britannica.com, XWordInfo.com
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7."OTELLO"
"Othello" is an opera by Giuseppe Verdi based on the play "Othello" by William Shakespeare. It tells the story of the Venetian war hero Othello, who falls victim to a revenge trap set by the jealous ensign Iago.
When Othello returns home to his wife Desdemona, he begins to suspect that she has been disloyal in his absence, despite her denials. These suspicions are fueled by Iago's accusations that Desdemona has betrayed Cassio, Othello's lieutenant, but they continue to grow with false evidence as part of the villain's plan.
We won't spoil the tragic ending, but when Otello discovers the truth in the final act of the opera, it will be too late.
possible clues: "Verdi's opera", "Opera set in Cyprus", "Verdi's opera based on Shakespeare's play", "Opera with Ave Maria", "La Scala premiere 1887", "Desdemona's husband at the Opera", "Verdi's Moor", " Title role for tenor.
Tosca is an opera written by Giacomo Puccini in 1900. Title appeared in 161 crossword puzzles for The New York Times.
It is also one of the deadliest operas ever staged, as none of the main characters make it to the end of the opera alive.
The opera, set during the Napoleonic Wars, tells the story of the escape of Cesare Angelotti, a political prisoner who seeks refuge with his old friend Mario Cavaradossi. When the corrupt police chief Baron Scarpia discovers their hideout, he vows to use Cavaradossi's lover, the opera singer Floria Tosca, for his influence and eventually win her over.
Throughout the opera, Tosca tries to resist Scarpia, although she can do little to save Cavaradossi from punishment.
possible clues: "Puccini's opera", "Opera 'Vissi d'arte'", "Puccini soprano", "Premier of Teatro Costanzi 1900", "Opera about an opera singer", "Floria ___ Puccini", "Love of Cavaradossi", in the opera "Puccini's Black-Haired Heroine", "Who Scarpia Betrayed".
tl;dr: Build on what you've already solved. It's much easier to solve a clue where the answer already has some letters filled in than to try to solve one that's completely blank, so once you have that all-important foothold, go back to those areas and try to expand your solved territory.
The Saturday crossword is actually the hardest puzzle of the week. Mondays have the most straightforward clues and Saturday clues are the hardest, or involve the most wordplay. Contrary to popular belief, the Sunday puzzles are midweek difficulty, not the hardest.
Memory and thinking skills may improve with regular crossword practice. A study published in NEJM Evidence found that people with mild memory problems who did web-based crossword puzzles showed improvement in cognition and experienced less brain shrinkage, compared to those who played web-based cognitive games.
Many people think of crosswords as an “elite” game or a game for academics. But it doesn't have to be that way. Anyone can enjoy crosswords, and anyone can become better crossword solvers, too. Plus, it doesn't take a lot of study to improve your crossword game.
An aria in an opera is a set-piece song for a solo singer in which the character expresses an emotion or ideal that doesn't necessarily drive the story forward.
Perhaps the most famous is the November 5, 1996, puzzle by Jeremiah Farrell, published on the day of the U.S. presidential election, which has been featured in the movie Wordplay and the book The Crossword Obsession by Coral Amende, as well as discussed by Peter Jennings on ABC News, featured on CNN, and elsewhere.
Studies have shown that doing jigsaw puzzles can improve cognition and visual-spatial reasoning. The act of putting the pieces of a puzzle together requires concentration and improves short-term memory and problem solving.
A popular strategy is to put the edges of the puzzle together first because, with one straight edge, the pieces are easier to identify and put together. “There isn't a single strategy that will work for 100 percent of puzzles, but in the majority of cases, it is easiest to start with the edge,” McLeod says.
Working on a puzzle reinforces connections between brain cells, improves mental speed and is an effective way to improve short-term memory. Puzzles increase the production of dopamine, a chemical that regulates mood, memory, and concentration. Dopamine is released with every success as we solve the puzzle.
In crossword puzzles, S was the most frequent consonant and the third most frequent 1etter (after E and A). By contrast, most crypt ologists agre,e that in general writing T is the most frequent consonant, and the second most frequent letter.
Wynne's puzzle has one word already filled in—“fun,” the name of the newspaper section in which the puzzle was published. The clues are slightly different—instead of “across” and “down,” the clues say the numbers of the starting and ending boxes of that word.
The crossword consists of 244,971 squares and measures 12.042 m² (129.61 ft²). The crossword was created by 20 crossword artists for celebrating 35th anniversary of Nikoli Co., Ltd.. Comments below may relate to previous holders of this record.
Researchers determined that, out of the participants who eventually developed dementia, those who frequently did crossword puzzles demonstrated a much slower decline in memory. On average, crossword puzzles provided about a two and a half year delay in memory decline compared to those who did not do crossword puzzles.
Crossword Puzzles May be Better for Improving Memory Than Sudoku, Wordle. For people with mild cognitive impairment, stimulating mental tasks can slow the symptoms of cognitive decline.
Puzzles are an excellent way for seniors with dementia to strengthen cognition, reduce agitation, and promote a feeling of accomplishment. They can also be a fun way for family or caregivers to engage with their loved one.
Since the ADHD brain tends to seek out immediate rewards, people with ADHD might be especially likely to enjoy hunting for solutions to sudokus, crossword puzzles, and the like in the same way they have an affinity for board games.
Some crosswords use the ellipsis (...). If one clue finishes with an ellipsis and the next clue starts with one, the inference is that the two clues are connected. Sometimes they are and you will have to solve one in order to solve the other but in many cases the two clues can be read independently.
These stories are often tragic, and typically involve heroes and kings or ancient myths and gods. Some of Handel's operas are in this style. Singspiel “Songplay” evolved in German speaking countries out of the comic opera tradition.
The ultimate Classical opera composer was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91). Take his The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), a farce where servants ultimately outwit their aristocratic masters, based on a play by French writer Beaumarchais.
The female voices are divided between sopranos, mezzo-sopranos, and contraltos. Sopranos are generally the highest voice type, followed by mezzo-sopranos and contraltos. The male voices are divided between countertenors, tenors, baritones, bass-baritones, and basses.
Whenever opera appears in pop culture, it's almost always drawn from Italian, French, or German works. But we've got beautiful things to use from pieces written in tons of other languages, as well, and we want to hear more of 'em!
Drama, poetry, visual arts and sometimes dance interact with music to create a unique alchemy that changes show after show, production after production. An opera is composed of four essential elements: the text ('libretto') and the music, the singing and the staging. The libretto is the 'script' of an opera.
Recitative. A halfway house between singing and speaking. Sung in a declamatory style in the rhythm of spoken word often on a single pitch. Frequently in earlier opera the narrative was largely advanced through recitative with arias being focused on expressing emotion.
That tenors are ALWAYS the male lead. While tenors certainly often play the male lead role (especially the romantic lead), there are many exceptions to this rule and baritones and basses also have opportunities to play many male lead roles.
And you cannot argue that operas tell stories only through music, whereas musicals rely heavily on spoken dialogue. Lots of operas, and not just comic works, have spoken dialogue, including “Carmen” and “Fidelio.”
15 year old Deepika Ravichandran, a junior at the University High School of Science and Engineering, is the fastest puzzler on the planet, logging in at 13 minutes and seven seconds to complete the official Guinness puzzle on May 9. Her time beats the current record of 13 minutes and 14 seconds.
The World's Largest Crossword Puzzle - Hammacher Schlemmer. Holding The Guinness World Records record for its size, this crossword hangs on a full 7' by 7' of wall space and has 28,000 clues for over 91,000 squares.
Speaking of foreign words, if the answer is a foreign word, the clue will often include another word from the same language. If not, then you might see a specific indication such as (fr.) or (sp.). For example HOLA might be clued as Hello (sp.), Hello in Spanish, or Juan's Hello.
Mondays have the most straightforward clues and Saturday clues are the hardest, or involve the most wordplay. Contrary to popular belief, the Sunday puzzles are midweek difficulty, not the hardest. They're just bigger. A typical Monday clue will be very straightforward and drive you almost directly to the answer.
THE SKILLS REQUIRED TO SOLVE CROSSWORD PUZZLES INVOLVE TWO IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF LEXICAL MEMORY: semantic information in the form of clues that indicate the meaning of the answer, and orthographic patterns that constrain the possibilities but may also provide hints to possible answers.
Scan through the clues, and knock out all the easiest ones. Not only will this give your gameplay some structure, but also it'll give you an ego boost! Typically, fill-in-the-blank clues are the easiest. For example: “___ of Oz.”
Memory and thinking skills may improve with regular crossword practice. A study published in NEJM Evidence found that people with mild memory problems who did web-based crossword puzzles showed improvement in cognition and experienced less brain shrinkage, compared to those who played web-based cognitive games.
People with higher fluid intelligence are able to reason more quickly and logically, manipulate date more easily and have a better grasp of complex and abstract information.
The asterisks at the start of the theme clues aren't there to mark the theme clues—they stand in for the letters Star. 22a. [*Z, for one], CABLE CHANNEL. Starz. 38a.
Speaking of foreign words, if the answer is a foreign word, the clue will often include another word from the same language. If not, then you might see a specific indication such as (fr.) or (sp.). For example HOLA might be clued as Hello (sp.), Hello in Spanish, or Juan's Hello.
Researchers determined that, out of the participants who eventually developed dementia, those who frequently did crossword puzzles demonstrated a much slower decline in memory. On average, crossword puzzles provided about a two and a half year delay in memory decline compared to those who did not do crossword puzzles.
The study found that crossword puzzles were superior to other brain games in improving memory. Scientists noted that both crossword puzzles and brain games positively impacted early stages of cognitive decline.
Elderly people can often face a number of stresses in their daily life. These can range from their financial situation to social or medical challenges they may experience along the way. Crosswords and other such puzzles (e.g. word searches) can offer a valuable way to relax.
According to profiling with the Myers-Briggs test, many dissectologists who excel at putting puzzles together are people with personality types that are either INFJs or ISFJs. In other words, these are “Introversion, Intuition, Feeling, and Judgment” and “Introversion, Sensing, Feeling, and Judgment,” respectively.
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Introduction: My name is Roderick King, I am a cute, splendid, excited, perfect, gentle, funny, vivacious person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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