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The Cost of Natural Disasters

By QUYNHANH DO AUG. 5, 2015

Every year, the United States foots a multi-billion dollar bill for the economic and insured losses incurred from natural disasters. In 2014, the costs reached $25-billion with certain regions of the country more prone to calamity than others. So what disasters are the most common and how much do they cost? This video breaks down the natural disasters by region. Related Article

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A Quick Puzzle to Test Your Problem Solving

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Critical Thinking Brain Teasers: Enhance Your Cognitive Skills Today

Critical thinking brain teasers are an engaging way to challenge one’s cognitive abilities and improve problem-solving skills. These mind-bending puzzles come in various forms, such as logic puzzles, visual puzzles, and rebus puzzles, each designed to test one’s ability to analyze, evaluate, and think outside the box. Incorporating critical thinking brain teasers into daily routines or educational settings helps develop key cognitive skills, fostering creativity and enhancing overall intellectual capacity.

The role of critical thinking in problem-solving cannot be overstated, as it enables individuals to approach complex issues rationally, systematically, and strategically. By using brain teasers specifically designed to enhance critical thinking skills, individuals can sharpen their analytical prowess and improve their decision-making abilities in various life situations. Engaging in educational games and worksheets that incorporate brain teasers can be an effective way to promote critical thinking and create a lifelong curiosity for learning.

Key Takeaways

• Critical thinking brain teasers help improve cognitive skills and problem-solving abilities.
• These puzzles come in various forms, such as logic puzzles and visual puzzles, each challenging one’s analytical prowess.
• Incorporating brain teasers into educational settings can foster creativity and enhance intellectual capacities.

Understanding Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is a vital skill for obtaining knowledge and making well-informed decisions. It involves the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue, allowing individuals to form sound judgments and actions. When thinking critically, people actively and skillfully assess, synthesize, and evaluate information from various sources, including observation, knowledge, reflection, and conversations. This process helps to strengthen one’s educational foundation and promotes problem-solving capabilities.

A significant aspect of critical thinking is the ability to approach problems from multiple angles. This skill allows individuals to consider various perspectives, enhancing the quality and accuracy of their judgments. It also aids in identifying biases and misleading information, fostering an open and clear-minded approach to complex issues.

To develop and maintain critical thinking skills, it is essential to engage in a variety of brain-teasing activities, such as puzzles and riddles. These challenges facilitate the refinement of one’s logical reasoning, pattern recognition, and analytical abilities. Additionally, the practice of sharing and discussing these brain teasers with others helps to refine communication skills and exposes individuals to new perspectives and ideas.

In the realm of education, critical thinking is crucial for promoting independent thought and fostering a deeper understanding of complex topics. Educators can encourage the development of these skills by incorporating various critical thinking activities into lesson plans, such as debates, analysis of case studies, and group problem-solving exercises. This not only helps students become more insightful individuals but also equips them with the tools necessary for lifelong learning and adaptation in an ever-changing world.

By nurturing a confident, knowledgeable, and neutral approach to learning, critical thinking not only enables personal growth but also contributes to a more informed and open-minded society.

Role of Critical Thinking in Problem-Solving

Critical thinking plays a crucial role in developing effective problem-solving skills. It enables individuals to analyze situations, gather necessary information, and evaluate different solutions objectively. Employing critical thinking skills leads to informed decision-making, as individuals learn to think critically about every step they take.

Developing problem-solving skills begins with understanding the importance of reasoning and logic. Critical thinking encourages individuals to avoid relying solely on intuition and assumptions. Instead, they should seek evidence, identify biases, and consider various perspectives before reaching a conclusion.

Brain teasers are an excellent way to build critical thinking skills. These cognitive exercises require individuals to think outside the box, analyze patterns, and draw logical conclusions. By engaging in brain teasers and similar activities, people can improve their problem-solving and decision-making abilities. Using brain teasers to build critical thinking skills enhances mental agility and adaptability, as individuals must consider multiple approaches to reach a solution.

Critical thinking is essential not only for personal growth but also for the development of a dynamic society. As people learn to make better decisions, they become more effective contributors to the community. It is vital to foster an environment that encourages critical thinking, empowering individuals to engage in thoughtful and informed decision-making. In this way, our collective problem-solving capacity is strengthened, and we are better equipped to tackle complex, real-world challenges together.

Brain Teasers and Their Importance

Brain teasers play a significant role in developing and maintaining cognitive skills. They come in various forms, ranging from simple puzzles that provide a sense of joy to more hard challenges that require extensive critical thinking. These mind-boggling exercises often require creativity, analytical thinking, and logical reasoning to solve.

The benefits of brain teasers are evident in different areas of life. They not only maintain mental sharpness but also help in building critical thinking skills. These skills enable individuals to tackle complex problems, analyze data, and formulate well-informed decisions. Engaging in critical thinking brain teasers provides opportunities for personal growth and success in various spheres.

Moreover, brain teasers encourage a healthier lifestyle by keeping the brain active. Just as physical exercise benefits the body, mental exercise enhances cognitive function and prevents age-related decline. Researchers have found that regularly solving puzzles and brain teasers can boost memory and cognitive abilities, leading to mental well-being.

In summary, brain teasers offer a range of advantages, from improving critical thinking skills to providing mental stimulation and enjoyment. By incorporating these engaging exercises into daily routines, individuals can enhance their cognitive abilities and contribute to overall personal growth and success.

Logic Puzzles

Logic puzzles are a type of puzzle that requires the use of logic skills to solve. These puzzles often present a scenario with incomplete information, and the solver must use reasoning to fill in the gaps and arrive at the correct solution. They are an excellent way to exercise the mind and improve critical thinking abilities.

One popular type of logic puzzle is the grid-based puzzle, where solvers are given a series of clues and must use deduction to correctly place items in a grid according to the constraints imposed. The more clues provided in the puzzle, the easier it is to solve, and the better the puzzle is at teaching logic skills.

Sudoku is another popular type of logic puzzle that challenges a player’s logic and deduction skills. In a Sudoku puzzle, the player is presented with a partially filled 9×9 grid, with each row, column, and 3×3 subgrid containing the numbers 1 to 9 exactly once. The objective is to fill in the remaining cells in the grid using the provided information and the rules of the game, without guessing.

When solving logic puzzles, it is important to avoid making assumptions or jumping to conclusions. Instead, carefully analyze the information provided and use a methodical approach to deducing the relevant facts. This may involve breaking the puzzle down into smaller parts or using a process of elimination to remove possibilities and narrow down the potential solutions.

By regularly engaging with logic puzzles, such as Sudoku or grid-based puzzles, people can develop and strengthen their logical reasoning skills, which are valuable in many aspects of life, from decision making to problem-solving. These cognitive challenges also provide a fun, engaging way to stimulate the mind and keep it sharp.

Enhancing Cognitive Skills and Creativity with Brain Teasers

Brain teasers offer a fun and engaging way to sharpen cognitive skills and boost creativity. They are designed to challenge the way individuals think, analyze information, and solve problems. Utilizing brain teasers as a part of one’s daily routine can foster intellectual growth, improve memory, and stimulate new ideas.

One of the most significant benefits of engaging in brain teasers is that they encourage critical thinking. This involves assessing assumptions, evaluating evidence, and formulating well-founded conclusions. By frequently practicing such exercises, individuals can strengthen their cognitive skills and enhance problem-solving abilities.

Another substantial advantage provided by brain teasers is the stimulation of creativity. Creative thinking is vital in generating innovative ideas and finding unique solutions to challenges. Brain teasers often require the ability to think outside the box, stretching the mind to come up with unconventional approaches.

Moreover, brain teasers can be an excellent tool for mental training, keeping the mind sharp and focused. They can help in reducing cognitive decline associated with age, and even have the potential to improve productivity in various aspects of life. By maintaining an active mind, individuals are more likely to excel in their personal and professional pursuits.

In conclusion, incorporating brain teasers into daily routines can significantly enhance cognitive skills and creativity. By challenging the thought process and requiring innovative problem-solving approaches, these exercises can provide both mental stimulation and personal growth. Thus, brain teasers can be a valuable addition to anyone seeking to improve their thinking abilities, foster creativity, and achieve success in various areas of life.

Critical Thinking Brain Teasers

Critical thinking brain teasers are puzzles designed to challenge a person’s mental acuity, requiring them to think outside the box and approach problems in a non-straightforward manner. These brain teasers test a person’s ability to analyze situations, identify patterns, and make logical deductions based on the information provided.

One type of critical thinking brain teaser involves a match-stick puzzle. In these puzzles, participants are given a specific number of matchsticks, and the objective is to rearrange them to form a new shape only by moving the specified number of matchsticks. These puzzles require a good spatial sense, attention to detail, and an understanding of geometric principles.

Another type of critical thinking brain teaser is a riddle or lateral thinking puzzle. In these puzzles, participants are presented with a problem or scenario that appears simple at first but requires unexpected solutions to solve. An example of this type of puzzle is the well-known “river crossing” problem, where participants must help a farmer, a fox, a chicken, and a bag of grain cross a river with a small boat that can only carry a limited number of passengers. The challenge lies in finding a way to get all of the items across without allowing the fox to eat the chicken or the chicken to eat the grain.

Word-based brain teasers can also be excellent tools for developing critical thinking skills. For example, participants might be asked to find words that can be formed by rearranging the letters in a given set of words, such as “tail,” “shed,” and “height.” The answers might include words such as “light” and “shield.” These puzzles pose a linguistic challenge that requires participants to think about words in a new and unfamiliar context.

Another category of critical thinking brain teasers includes logic puzzles and grid-based challenges, where participants must deduce relationships between objects, people, or events based on a set of clues. For example, in a puzzle involving five houses of different heights and colors, participants must determine which house is the tallest and who lives in each house.

Overall, critical thinking brain teasers help sharpen problem-solving and analytical skills, featuring a variety of challenges such as match-stick puzzles, riddles, word problems, and logic puzzles. Participants can improve their critical thinking abilities by regularly engaging with these types of brain teasers.

Strategies to Solve Brain Teasers

Solving brain teasers can be a fun and challenging way to improve critical thinking skills. To effectively solve these puzzles, one should approach them with a systematic and organized approach. Here are some strategies that can help in finding the solution to various brain teasers.

First, take the time to carefully read and understand the information provided in the brain teaser. Identify the key details and relevant information that will help in reaching the solution. It is essential to have a clear understanding of the problem before diving into solving it.

Next, apply logical reasoning to assess the information and make connections between the given details. This involves breaking down the problem into smaller components, analyzing each part separately, and identifying patterns or relationships that might lead to the solution.

Additionally, it is essential to stay organized and keep track of the information that has been processed. This can be achieved by jotting down notes, creating tables, or using visual aids such as diagrams. Organizing information in this way can help clarify the problem and make it easier to find the correct answer.

Another useful strategy is to approach the brain teaser from different angles or perspectives. Explore multiple possibilities and consider alternative interpretations of the information provided. This can help in identifying potential solutions that might not have been apparent at first glance.

Lastly, it’s crucial to remain persistent and patient while solving brain teasers. Some puzzles might take a few minutes, while others could require much longer to solve. Remember that the goal of these teasers is not only to find the solution but also to develop critical thinking and reasoning skills in the process.

By using these strategies and maintaining a confident, knowledgeable, and neutral mindset, one can increase their chances of success in solving brain teasers. The key is to be clear in your approach and maintain focus on the task at hand.

Benefits of Brain Teasers in Real World

Brain teasers offer a wide range of benefits in the real world. They not only provide entertainment but also enhance your cognitive abilities in various aspects of life.

One of the most significant benefits of brain teasers is the improvement of critical thinking skills. Engaging in these activities forces you to think outside the box, analyze situations from different angles, and come up with creative solutions. This advanced reasoning ability is applicable to many real-world scenarios, such as problem-solving in the workplace or making informed decisions in daily life.

Logical skills are also enhanced through brain teaser exercises, as many of these puzzles require the use of deductive reasoning and pattern recognition. Developing a strong foundation in logic can aid individuals in fields such as mathematics, computer programming, and engineering, where a keen sense of order and methodical thinking is crucial.

Furthermore, brain teasers often require a strong command of language skills. Puzzles based on wordplay, riddles, or anagrams can be particularly beneficial for expanding vocabulary, improving reading comprehension, and honing language abilities. This expertise in language assists you in more effective communication, both written and verbal, in various personal and professional settings.

In summary, brain teasers offer numerous advantages in the real world by influencing the development of critical thinking, logic, and language skills. Engaging in these challenging activities can lead to more informed decision-making, better problem-solving abilities, and enhanced communication prowess.

Visual Puzzles and Rebus Puzzles

Visual puzzles and rebus puzzles are excellent tools for enhancing critical thinking skills. These puzzles often require a person to think more abstractly and use their cognitive abilities to solve them.

Visual puzzles are logic or reasoning problems that are expressed and solved using drawings or images. They can be found in various forms, such as finding differences between two pictures, identifying hidden objects in a scene, or determining the number of geometrical shapes in a given pattern. Some popular examples of visual puzzles are mentioned in this article titled “ Visual Puzzles & Brain Teasers That Will Challenge Your Mind .”

Rebus puzzles , on the other hand, use a combination of images, symbols, or letters to represent words or phrases. These puzzles force a person to think beyond literal interpretations and decipher the intended message. Rebus puzzles can be simple or complex, depending on the arrangement and combination of the elements. For example, the phrase “Green with envy” could be represented by a green-colored word “WITH” placed between the word “GREEN” and a picture of an envious facial expression. You can find more examples and challenges in this list of “ 20 Rebus Puzzles (with Answers) ” or this collection of “ 25 Rebus Puzzles (With Answers!) .”

These types of puzzles are not only enjoyable; they also help develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and language skills. Visual puzzles improve spatial reasoning and pattern recognition, whereas rebus puzzles strengthen the understanding and interpretation of common words and phrases. Furthermore, these puzzles can be used in educational settings, as demonstrated by these “ 10 Teacher-Tested Visual Brain Teasers ” for classroom use.

In conclusion, both visual puzzles and rebus puzzles are valuable tools for exercising critical thinking and cognitive skills. These challenges offer an engaging and entertaining way to promote mental agility while enhancing language and problem-solving abilities.

Educational Games and Worksheets

Educational games and worksheets are essential tools for fostering critical thinking skills in students. These activities not only make learning more engaging but also help improve memory, concentration, and problem-solving abilities. Teachers often incorporate a variety of brain teasers and puzzles in their lesson plans to develop these skills.

One popular approach to incorporating brain teasers in education is through printable worksheets. These worksheets may contain riddles, anagrams, connected squares, mazes, and other challenging exercises designed to stimulate cognitive development. Teachers can find a variety of free brain teaser worksheets online for use in the classroom or as homework assignments.

In addition to worksheets, teachers may also utilize visual brain teasers in their lessons. These activities encourage students to use critical thinking skills by solving problems through visual cues and patterns. This engaging form of game-based learning can be a fun way to develop logical thinking and problem-solving abilities among students.

Interactive educational games, such as online quizzes, can also help improve critical thinking skills. These activities are often timed, providing students with a fun challenge and encouraging quick thinking. Incorporating gaming elements into education keeps students entertained and motivated while they develop essential cognitive abilities.

By incorporating brain teasers, puzzles, and educational games into their lessons and worksheets, teachers can provide students with opportunities to develop their critical thinking abilities. These activities make education more interactive and enjoyable while promoting essential cognitive skills that students will use throughout their lives.

Engaging in brain teasers is a valuable activity to develop and improve critical thinking abilities. They offer a way to sharpen the mind, making it more efficient and effective when facing complex challenges. Examples of such brain teasers can be found on websites like gcfglobal and Psychology Today .

Brain teasers come in various forms, such as riddles, puzzles, and lateral thinking problems. When individuals challenge themselves with these activities, they train their minds to process information creatively, utilize logic, and make connections between seemingly unrelated ideas. A wide range of brain teasers can be found in sources like Reader’s Digest and Parade .

In conclusion, incorporating brain teasers into one’s routine can have a positive impact on critical thinking skills, enhancing performance in various aspects of life. It’s important to choose brain teasers that are both engaging and challenging to ensure the most significant benefits and progress.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is half of 2+2.

The first step in solving this is understanding that the equation should be read as “half of (2+2).” In this case, you have to perform the addition first: 2+2 equals 4. Now, find half of 4, which equals 2. Therefore, half of 2+2 is 2.

Which tire doesn’t move when a car takes a left turn?

This is a tricky question that requires critical thinking. The answer lies in understanding how a car moves when making a turn. In reality, all four tires rotate as the car takes a left turn. However, the inside tires move less distance, while the outside tires travel a greater distance to make the turn.

You walk into a room with one match, a stove, a candle, and a fireplace; which do you light first?

This brain teaser is designed to test your problem-solving skills and careful reading. The answer is simple: before lighting any of these items, you must light the match first.

A man gave one of his three children one coin each. How many coins are left?

To solve this, it’s essential to realize that the man has three children and gave each of them one coin. Therefore, all three of the coins are given away, and none are left.

What is full of holes but still holds water?

The answer to this riddle is a sponge. Even though a sponge has numerous holes, it can still hold and absorb water. This brain teaser tests your ability to think creatively and outside the box.

What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?

This brain teaser asks you to add two letters to a word, making it shorter in length. The answer is the word “short.” When you add the letters “er” to the end, it becomes “shorter.”

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A Quick Puzzle to Test Your Problem Solving – The New York Times

• Post author By Ross Goodman
• Post date 2015-07-10
• No Comments on A Quick Puzzle to Test Your Problem Solving – The New York Times

A short game sheds light on government policy, corporate America, and why no one likes to be wrong.

Source: A Quick Puzzle to Test Your Problem Solving – The New York Times

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A Quick Puzzle to Test Your Problem Solving (via NYT)

This fantastic test was posted by the New York Times over a year ago:

Here’s how it works:

We’ve chosen a rule that some sequences of three numbers obey — and some do not. Your job is to guess what the rule is. We’ll start by telling you that the sequence 2, 4, 8 obeys the rule:

Now it’s your turn. Enter a number sequence in the boxes below, and we’ll tell you whether it satisfies the rule or not. You can test as many sequences as you want.

[ click here to go to the NYT link and test your answer ]

*SPOILER BELOW*

The answer was extremely basic. The rule was simply: Each number must be larger than the one before it. 5, 10, 20 satisfies the rule, as does 1, 2, 3 and -17, 14.6, 845. Children in kindergarten can understand this rule. But most people start off with the incorrect assumption that if we’re asking them to solve a problem, it must be a somewhat tricky problem. They come up with a theory for what the answer is, like: Each number is double the previous number. And then they make a classic psychological mistake. They don’t want to hear the answer “no.” In fact, it may not occur to them to ask a question that may yield a no. Remarkably, 77 percent of people who have played this game so far have guessed the answer without first hearing a single no. A mere 9 percent heard at least three nos — even though there is no penalty or cost for being told no, save the small disappointment that every human being feels when hearing “no.” It’s a lot more pleasant to hear “yes.” That, in a nutshell, is why so many people struggle with this problem. Confirmation Bias This disappointment is a version of what psychologists and economists call confirmation bias. Not only are people more likely to believe information that fits their pre-existing beliefs, but they’re also more likely to go looking for such information. This experiment is a version of one that the English psychologist Peter Cathcart Wason used in a seminal 1960 paper on confirmation bias. (He used the even simpler 2, 4 and 6, rather than our 2, 4 and 8.) Most of us can quickly come up with other forms of confirmation bias — and yet the examples we prefer tend to be, themselves, examples of confirmation bias. If you’re politically liberal, maybe you’re thinking of the way that many conservatives ignore strong evidence of global warming and its consequences and instead glom onto weaker contrary evidence. Liberals are less likely to recall the many incorrect predictions over the decades, often strident and often from the left, that population growth would create widespread food shortages. It hasn’t. This puzzle exposes a particular kind of confirmation bias that bedevils companies, governments and people every day: the internal yes-man (and yes-woman) tendency. We’re much more likely to think about positive situations than negative ones, about why something might go right than wrong and about questions to which the answer is yes, not no. Sometimes, the reluctance to think negatively has nothing to do with political views or with a conscious fear of being told no. Often, people never even think about asking questions that would produce a negative answer when trying to solve a problem — like this one. They instead restrict the universe of possible questions to those that might potentially yield a “yes.” Government Policy In this exercise, the overwhelming majority of readers gravitated toward confirming their theory rather than trying to disprove it. A version of this same problem compromised the Obama administration’s and Federal Reserve’s (mostly successful) response to the financial crisis. They were too eager to find “green shoots” of economic recovery that would suggest that the answer to the big question in their minds was, just as they hoped and believed: “Yes, the crisis response is aggressive enough, and it’s working.” More damaging was the approach that President George W. Bush’s administration, and others, took toward trying to determine whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction a decade ago — and how the Iraqi people would react to an invasion. Vice President Dick Cheney predicted in 2003, “We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.” Corporate America Corporate America is full of more examples. Executives of Detroit’s Big Three didn’t spend enough time brainstorming in the 1970s and 1980s about how their theory of the car market might be wrong. Wall Street and the Fed made the same mistake during the dot-com and housing bubbles. To pick an example close to home, newspapers didn’t spend enough time challenging the assumption that classified advertisements would remain plentiful for decades. One of the best-selling business books in history — about negotiation strategy — is “Getting to Yes.” But the more important advice for us may instead be to go out of our way to get to no. When you want to test a theory, don’t just look for examples that prove it. When you’re considering a plan, think in detail about how it might go wrong. Some businesses have made this approach a formal part of their decision-making: Imagine our strategy has failed; what are the most likely reasons it did? As Jason Zweig has written in The Wall Street Journal, “Gary Klein, a psychologist at Applied Research Associates, of Albuquerque, N.M., recommends imagining that you have looked into a crystal ball and have seen that your investment has gone bust.” When you seek to disprove your idea, you sometimes end up proving it — and other times you can save yourself from making a big mistake. But you need to start by being willing to hear no. And even if you think that you are right, you need to make sure you’re asking questions that might actually produce an answer of no. If you still need to work on this trait, don’t worry: You’re only human.

Screen Rant

Nyt mini crossword: 8 strategies to solve it fast.

This tricky little five by five crossword isn't always as easy as it looks; here are a couple easy tips and tricks to beat your friends' times!

The New York Times Mini crossword is a classic puzzle, and the rules are simple. Follow the clues down and across to fill in the daily puzzle, and do it as fast as you can. The crossword writers at NYT put out a new puzzle every day, and that means every day there are new clues for players to follow. This follows the same schedule as the daily Wordle and can be found on the New York Times games app.

The Mini is a five by five, meaning the words used in the puzzle can only be five letters long at the maximum . This limits the possible answers quite a bit, but it is also possible that the answer may be two shorter words, like "I AM." These little crosswords tend to be simpler and less in-depth than the full-sized crosswords that the New York Times puts out, but they can still be difficult, especially towards the end of the week. Knowing tricks like these will make solving the daily Mini worlds easier.

5 Letter Words Wordle Hasn't Used Yet (Updated Daily)

8 work the hard ones last, don't be afraid to move on.

Any school-goer knows this strategy for test-taking. When you have limited time, don't spend precious moments agonizing over questions you just don't know the answers to . Spend a second thinking about it, and if the answer isn't apparent, move on and come back. As seen in the gallery above, you can fully solve this puzzle without ever knowing that the Andes mountain range is the world's longest, as long as you know the other answers.

There are a few benefits to this, The Mini 's hints are pretty simple most of the time, unlike the full-size crossword the New York Times puts out. Moving on will allow you to keep thinking about your answer while you knock out some easier words, filling in the gaps of your unknowns as you solve others. Come back at the end, and use the letters you've filled in from other words to help narrow down your answer.

7 Play the Monday Puzzle

Sunday's the hardest.

A New York Times puzzle writer explains on YouTube that Monday's puzzles are the best to start with for beginners. If you're struggling with the tricky Sunday puzzles, don't sweat the harder ones until you're feeling confident on a Wednesday or Friday puzzle first. This will help you learn the patterns of how clues are worded and what typical answers look like.

By doing the early puzzles each week, you'll be warmed up for the harder puzzles later in the week . Doing puzzles like The Mini or Connections every day will prime your brain for thinking quickly and pulling information from your long-term memory. You might find that you know more than you think once your brain is prompted to pull up those deeply buried facts!

6 Follow the Quotes

Read the clues carefully.

As Puzzling Games on YouTube explains, when quotes are used in the NYT Mini's clues, this means that the answer to the clue will be a word or phrase as it would be spoken aloud. One way to answer these questions is to think about how you can rephrase the quoted clue in one or two words . Typically, this word will be either in response to the clue or as a rephrasing of the word.

The example clue used in the video is "Quiet Down." In this example, the answer is a rephrasing, "Shh." Whenever you see quotation marks, think of spoken words or phrases associated with the clue rather than examples of the clue.

Knowing what quotation marks mean will give you an edge in completing these types of clues.

5 Guess and Check

Focus on the letters.

In the direst of times, one last-ditch strategy to solving clues that have you stumped is by guessing the possible letters and going until you get it right. Similarly to the "Skip it and Come Back" method, fill in the words you know before trying this strategy. Once you've got most of the words filled in, come back to the word you're not sure about. From there, figure out whether you're looking for a consonant or a vowel.

Knowing whether you need a consonant or a vowel in your word is always going to be a guess, but knowing what letters commonly go together and in what order can really help you out here. For instance, if your first two letters in the word are consonants , odds are high that your next letter will be a vowel. Following these patterns and simply guessing what letter comes next is sometimes the only strategy to finish those puzzles where you just don't know the answers to the clues.

4 Break Down the Clues

Possible double meanings.

The New Yorker on YouTube explains common ways answers can be hidden inside of clues. This often requires thinking of the different meanings of words, wherein a phrase like "breaking your car" can be used to mean slowing your car down. Another meaning of this phrase could be to cause your car to be non-functional.

The differences between these two interpretations can drastically change the answer you come up with. Make sure to take your time in reading the clue. If your first understanding of the clue does not result in a word that fits with the rest of the puzzle, the problem might be that your interpretation of the clue was wrong.

3 Widen Your Knowledge Base

Get smarter.

Unfortunately, this is something that can only come by reading and playing trivia-style games. Reading often can increase your vocabulary and give you a wide knowledge base, even if you're just reading the news. Even playing games like Dungeons and Dragons can help you with crosswords , so you never know what knowledge might be useful.

A lot of the clues the NYT uses to create its crosswords are relatively common knowledge, and The Mini even more so, but some still take a bit of deeper knowledge that some may not have.

For instance, one clue from the March 29 Mini is "Sea, in French." The clue is straightforward enough, but if you didn't take French in high school or live in a place that speaks French, you might not know that "sea" in French is "mer." Having that one bit of knowledge that many people don't can allow you to solve The Mini just a bit quicker.

2 Use the Auto Check Feature

A little help can't hurt.

The Auto-Check feature in the NYT Mini is in the top right, under the little icon that looks like a life preserver. YouTuber Sam Wilson explores the different features of the Mini above, so if you're having trouble finding the Auto-Check button, watch the video. If you're struggling, or you have all the words filled in but the puzzle is not solved, hit that icon . It will bring up the help menu, with a few different options to provide different levels of assistance.

Auto-Check will tell you what you've gotten wrong in your puzzle. Rather than marking entire words, it will mark the letters individually. Sometimes the failure is actually that the word was spelled incorrectly rather than you getting the word totally wrong. This feature lets you know which letters do not belong without being handed the correct answers. It's perfect if you're close, but you just don't know which clue you've gotten wrong.

1 Think of the Clues Like Riddles

Hiding in plain sight.

If you've ever been a fan of riddles ( like the Sphinx's riddles in Dragon's Dogma 2 ), some of the clues for the daily Mini are going to delight you. As in the image above, many clues read like simple phrases but are meant to be interpreted in a non-obvious way. If you're getting these wrong after the puzzle is all filled in, it could be that you've misunderstood a clue. These tricky clues are less common but appear more in the end-of-the-week puzzles that tend to be more difficult.

The clue in the image above is "Sail supporter." Typically, you might think of "supporter" as a label applied to a person, as in "someone that is in favor of or donates to something else." In this case, "supporter" is used more literally, as in "something that physically holds something else up." When you read a clue that seems grammatically odd , that's likely because the writers are trying to trick you into misinterpreting their clue.

Source: New York Times/YouTube , Puzzling Games/YouTube , The New Yorker/Youtube , Sam Wilson/YouTube

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• General Psychology

A Quick Puzzle to Test Your Problem Solving

• Thread starter Olm the Water King
• Start date Dec 8, 2015

Olm the Water King

Across the universe.

• Dec 8, 2015

A Quick Puzzle to Test Your Problem Solving ... Click to expand...

That was anticlimatic, and really easy. Granted I have an advantage as my career path trains you to think this way quite rigorously. I tested 10 sequences. The first was to see if it was any kind of x^y sequence. Eventually I tried a random set, then tried repeating numbers, then numbers that decrease. Eventually the only option was that it is as long as the numbers rise each time.  

Hard said: That was anticlimatic, and really easy. Granted I have an advantage as my career path trains you to think this way quite rigorously. I tested 10 sequences. The first was to see if it was any kind of x^y sequence. Eventually I tried a random set, then tried repeating numbers, then numbers that decrease. Eventually the only option was that it is as long as the numbers rise each time. Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I recently read about this in The Black Swan and was spoiled. Still very neato though.  

Olm the Water King said: Cool. But apparently, 77% don't even get one 'no' and only 9% get 3 or more nos, hehe. Click to expand...

Megustalations

Remarkably, 77 percent of people who have played this game so far have guessed the answer without first hearing a single no. A mere 9 percent heard at least three nos — even though there is no penalty or cost for being told no, save the small disappointment that every human being feels when hearing “no.” Click to expand...

Permabanned

I got 2 yes's and guessed it. #the77%  

• Dec 10, 2015

At least my pre-employment testing was good for something.  

• Dec 30, 2015

What you hope people use this for: "Wow what an interesting insight regarding a premise of our cognitive functioning, which might well reflect onto most of my own and other's thinking even outside of this very formal scenario". What people actually use this for: "Wow I'm so much smarter than 77% of the population" (<-- actually just has previous experience with confirmation bias in this specific formal setting)  

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NYT Mini Crossword today: puzzle answers for NYT Strands: answers for Sunday, April 28

L ove crossword puzzles but don’t have all day to sit and solve a full-sized puzzle in your daily newspaper? That’s what The Mini is for!

A bite-sized version of the New York Times’ well-known crossword puzzle, The Mini is a quick and easy way to test your crossword skills daily in a lot less time (the average puzzle takes most players just over a minute to solve). While The Mini is smaller and simpler than a normal crossword, it isn’t always easy. Tripping up on one clue can be the difference between a personal best completion time and an embarrassing solve attempt.

Just like our  Wordle hints and Connections hints , we’re here to help with The Mini today if you’re stuck and need a little help.

Below are the answers for the NYT Mini crossword today.

NYT Mini Crossword answers today

• “___ a beautiful day in the neighborhood …” – ITS
• Clothing typically washed on a delicate setting – KNITS
• Swing one’s arms helplessly – FLAIL
• Quaint worker at a traveling fair – CARNY
• Woolly beast of Tibet – YAK
• Embed, as a mosaic tile – INLAY
• Crowning part of a princess costume – TIARA
• Really reek – STINK
• Chain that temporarily dropped the “Finger Lickin’ Good!” slogan during the pandemic – KFC
• Tricksy – SLY

• Best Mac Apps
• Unknown Caller

NYT Mini Crossword today: puzzle answers for NYT Strands: answers for Sunday, April 28

Love crossword puzzles but don’t have all day to sit and solve a full-sized puzzle in your daily newspaper? That’s what The Mini is for!

A bite-sized version of the New York Times’ well-known crossword puzzle, The Mini is a quick and easy way to test your crossword skills daily in a lot less time (the average puzzle takes most players just over a minute to solve). While The Mini is smaller and simpler than a normal crossword, it isn’t always easy. Tripping up on one clue can be the difference between a personal best completion time and an embarrassing solve attempt.

Just like our  Wordle hints and Connections hints , we’re here to help with The Mini today if you’re stuck and need a little help.

• NYT Connections: hints and answers for Sunday, April 28
• Move over, Wordle: The New York Times has a new puzzle game
• Today’s Wordle answer changed due to Roe v. Wade

Below are the answers for the NYT Mini crossword today.

NYT Mini Crossword answers today

• “___ a beautiful day in the neighborhood …” – ITS
• Clothing typically washed on a delicate setting – KNITS
• Swing one’s arms helplessly – FLAIL
• Quaint worker at a traveling fair – CARNY
• Woolly beast of Tibet – YAK
• Embed, as a mosaic tile – INLAY
• Crowning part of a princess costume – TIARA
• Really reek – STINK
• Chain that temporarily dropped the “Finger Lickin’ Good!” slogan during the pandemic – KFC
• Tricksy – SLY

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Building your population in Manor Lords is one thing, but making sure they want to stick around and continue to grow is the real challenge. You could have the ideal design for a village, or the perfect tactical mind for conquering the entire map, but if your approval rating is too low, you won't survive your first winter.

Happy people are the grease that makes your kingdom an efficient machine, but what is it that people value? It can be hard to tell at times why your approval rating isn't going up, or worse going down while playing your first few games. We've zoomed in on all our citizens to learn exactly what you need to do to increase your approval rating.

You can easily lose hours designing your village and appeasing your citizens in Manor Lords all by yourself. There are so many different avenues to achieve victory, but the only competition or help you can normally find is in the form of NPCs. Other factions around the map can be helpful or harmful depending on how you play, but what if you wanted to team up with a friend to combine resources, or perhaps compete to see who can crush the other first? Many strategy and city builders thrive on multiplayer components, but does Manor Lords offer those same modes? Make sure you know the answer before making your purchase if that's your intention. Is there multiplayer or co-op in Manor Lords? To cut to the chase, the answer is no. Manor Lords is a purely single-player experience through and through. There are no cooperative or competitive modes in the game at all, so there's no way to interact with anyone else either on PC or console. This game was just released out of early access, and there is plenty of content on the way, however, we regret to inform you that multiplayer is not in the plans for the time being.

One developer took to the Steam forums to release an FAQ on the game. One question specifically asked if there is any multiplayer or cooperative gameplay in the game. The response said that "he focus is on a refined single-player experience, with no multiplayer or cooperative modes planned at the moment."

From the moment you begin your adventure in Fallout: New Vegas, you've already cheated death. Your first playthrough of the game should be done as the developers intended, though maybe with a couple of mods to make the experience a little smoother, but nothing that breaks the game. That said, it's been over a decade since the game came out, so odds are you've already played through the intended way at least once. This is when you can have some fun tinkering with the game and play using console commands and cheats if you're on the PC version of the game. There are a ton of commands you can input to manipulate your character, the world, objects, and more. Here's a full rundown of all the cheats there are and how to activate them. How to enter console commands Opening up the command console to type in your cheats is just a single keystroke away. While in the game (not paused), hit the ~ key located below your escape key. This will remove your HUD and bring up the prompt to type in any of the below cheats. All Fallout: New Vegas console commands and cheats

Because there are so many console commands, we're going to break them down into general categories to make it easier for you to find what you're looking for based on what you want to do. Faction and reputation cheats addreputation <form id> <variable> <amount> -- Increases your reputation with a faction.