PuzzmoOutside of the brief period when seemingly everyone on the internet was obsessed with playing and talking about Wordle, word games don’t tend to be the most exciting games around. But they’re sure reliable, with clear rules and a short time commitment required to play them. Since the Wordle phenomenon lost its steam, puzzle website Puzzmo has stepped in to offer a much greater variety of brain-teasers, now including a fantastic introduction to crosswords for the puzzle curious.It might not seem like crosswords need much of a tutorial in the first place. All you need to do is figure out the word each clue points to and you’re set, right? But as crossword aficionados already know, there’s a lot more to it than that when it comes to how the clues themselves are constructed, and understanding that language can give you a huge headstart in solving the puzzles. That’s where the mini-crosswords Puzzmo recently ran as a sort of crossword strategy guide come in.The world is no longer in the grip of Wordle fever, but there are still plenty of great daily word games to play. | NurPhoto/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesStarting October 1, Puzzmo began running mini-crosswords alongside its other options. Mini-crosswords are still available daily on the site, but the first month of the new feature was special. Rather than just a smaller version of the standard crossword, these mini puzzles served as a way to introduce core concepts to new players, showing how a crossword’s clues can actually help point you toward what their creators are thinking in ways that might not be obvious at first.The lessons you learn from Puzzmo’s mini-crosswords might not be mind-blowing, but almost immediately after starting the series, I was getting a better sense for how crosswords are constructed, and more appreciation for them as a reason. The first few days’ puzzles simply show how the verb tense of clues matches the tense of the answers, so a clue that ends in “-s” or “-ed” is probably going to have an answer that does the same.That may seem obvious for avid crossword players, but it’s something I’d never consciously considered. That goes for many of the other lessons, too. Subsequent puzzles explain how crossword makers clue you in to whether they’re asking for someone’s full name or a nickname, how they handle abbreviations, and all the subtle ways that the language of a question can help you answer it. While it might not seem like it at first, there’s a lot of complexity being communicated by phrases like “for short” at the end of a clue, and this series of mini-crosswords have made me far more able to understand those meanings.Sometimes learning to enjoy a new kind of games just takes finding the right introduction. | AblunePredictably for someone who writes for a living, I always enjoy word games, but crosswords in particular have never been a genre of puzzle I actively seek out. After finishing Puzzmo’s month-long crossword course, though, I’ve been much more eager to make them a part of my daily routine.At the most basic level, it’s just been a nice addition to my day, but my stint at crossword university has also reminded me of the joy of stepping outside of your usual gaming habits. We’ve all got game genres that don’t click with us for one reason or another, and that’s fine, but it can also be a great experience to dig a bit deeper and see if there’s something you’re actually missing out on there. I avoided picross puzzles for the longest time because I just didn’t see the appeal in its numerical logic puzzles. But after spending some time with the extremely well constructed puzzles in Squeakross, I’ve completely flipped on that opinion and now I’m actively seeking out new nonogram puzzles to play. Gaining an appreciation for crosswords has the added benefit of teaching you a bunch of new words, along with some new, puzzle-specific ways to think about language.Puzzmo requires a subscription to play archived puzzles (including the October batch of mini-crosswords), but there’s also a seven-day free trial if you don’t want to shell out for the premium version. That’s more than enough time to walk through a month’s worth of mini-crosswords and maybe teach yourself how to enjoy them along the way.