Growing up, there was always a crossword puzzle book lying around the house. My mom loved crossword puzzles. The harder the crossword puzzle the more fun. As a kid, I would flip though the book and see all the blocks filled. It amazed me. And, when my mom took on a newspaper crossword puzzle, she always opted for a day later in the week. They were harder she said. I’ve often wondered how different a crossword puzzle is later in the week compared to the start of the week.   

An avid crossword puzzler recently analyzed the last 25 years of the NYT crossword puzzle and came up with some fascinating information about crossword puzzle patters. And, yes, it does look like later in the week the puzzle is more challenging.