Meet My Hyperfixation: Courtney - Crossword Puzzles

If there's one thing that's going to determine how my day goes, it's the New York Times Crossword.

It's a part of my morning ritual. I do the Crossword, the Mini and now the Midi every day before work while I sip on my iced latte, which I most recently drink with a hint of Chobani's cookie dough creamer.

It sets the vibe for the whole day. Breezing through a Monday puzzle? Great day, maybe even week, ahead. Staring blankly at a Thursday for 20 minutes? Emotionally compromised until lunch.

My personal best on the full crossword is two minutes, 38 seconds, and I've finished the Mini in 7 seconds a few times. Last week I clocked in under 10 seconds twice. It's only taken me more than a minute once, which was tough to stomach.

The puzzles get harder as the week progresses — Monday is approachable, Saturday is basically a war crime. Sunday is larger, but technically about as hard as a Wednesday/Thursday.

I've picked up an astounding amount of random knowledge over my years of crossword puzzling. Things like obscure vocabulary, old Hollywood references, Latin phrases, names of rivers from around the world and the complete filmography of people named ELI. Speaking of which, ELI is one of the most commonly repeated answers. If you don't know who Eli Manning, Eli Wallich or Eli Whitney are, you will. Some of the other hot words are ERA, AREA, ALOE, OREO and ARIA. The puzzle loves anything that ends in a vowel. You're welcome for the tip.

Pop culture knowledge is powerful when it comes to the Crossword. The constructors keep things current - recent slang, new movies, memes and viral news - so being the chronically online friend pays off for me yet again. I'll never get rid of TikTok because it's basically training me for my morning puzzles.

The Crossword has been running since 1942, and the NYT was famously snobbish about them at first, calling crosswords a "primitive form of mental exercise." They only started publishing them because of Pearl Harbor, because readers needed something to do during blackouts.

So if you're looking for a morning ritual that makes you feel smart, slightly unhinged and inexplicably competitive with yourself — I cannot recommend this enough. ERA, ALOE and I will be here every morning.