Seasoned Wordle fan looking to refine your strategy? First-time player of Spelling Bee and wondering where to start? Read on because the App Store spoke to the brain-teasing team behind NYT Games—also home to the flagship NYT Crossword and its easier-to-digest counterpart The Mini—to get expert advice on four of its biggest puzzles.

Narrow down vowels and common consonants quickly: Tracy Bennett has edited viral puzzle game Wordle since late 2022. “Start with two sequential guesses that utilize many of the most common consonants (r s t l n) and all of the vowels (a e i o u y). Even if your first guess is whimsical and different every day, it’s still wise to get as many unique letters guessed as possible in the first three moves.”

Don’t just re-use the same letters, even if they’re right: “When you find yourself with more possible letters to fill one slot than you have guesses remaining, such as _ ound, if you have at least one guess to ‘spend,’ try a word that uses multiple possibilities for that one slot—such as brush, which will cover the possible answers bound, round, sound, hound, and help you narrow down possibilities,” Bennett says, with a caveat: “This assumes you don’t play in Hard mode, in which case you have to test your intuition.”

Remember past solutions: Despite hundreds of daily puzzles to date, Wordle has never repeated an answer. “When you solve a word like _ ound, try to commit it to memory so that the next time that combination comes up, you won’t use a guess repeating an answer that has already run,” Bennett says.

Start with what you know: “Use familiar blends of letters to your advantage,” Sam Ezersky advises. He has challenged players to find as many words as possible in a honeycomb of seven letters since Spelling Bee launched in 2018. “Some, like ed and ing, are obvious, but even working with consonant mashups like pl or ch can be helpful to cobble together those tricky words.”

Exhaust every combination: “Don’t forget the sets of words that can always be spelled with the same partial cluster of letters. For every acacia there’s an acai. And for every ante there’s an antenna. And eaten. And neat. And antennae (plural!).”

Step away and try again later: Resisting the temptation to find every word in one sitting can help you climb to Spelling Bee’s higher scoring levels. “It’s OK to take breaks!” Ezersky reassures. “A fresh pair of eyes might be all you need for that much-needed push to Amazing, Genius, and beyond.”

Follow the flow, not the numbers: Tackling the iconic NYT Crossword’s smaller five-by-five sibling comes with its own unique challenges, says editor Joel Fagliano. “Use crossing letters as hints. Too many people solve The Mini like a quiz, going question by question. Instead, as soon as you fill in a word, tap the Down answers that cross it. Especially if you’ve entered a rare letter like j or z that will narrow down a lot of possibilities.“

Read the clue carefully: “The clue tense always matches the answer. If you get a clue like ‘blackens on the grill’ the answer will be chars, because the clue is present tense. Likewise, a past tense clue—‘enjoyed a fancy meal’—will always be answered with a past tense word dined.”

Move on quickly: Aiming for a new personal best? “If you’re trying to complete the puzzle as quickly as possible, don’t linger too much on a clue you can’t instantly solve. Since The Mini is so interconnected, you’re better off filling in some easier clues elsewhere and returning when you have more letter hints to use.”

Don’t answer until you’re certain: “If you see a category that has more than four potential members, don’t guess until you have figured out which card to swap out,” says Connections editor Wyna Liu. “Make a note and pivot to identify another category. Taking cards off the board might clarify things.”

Think out loud: “Sometimes it helps to read the cards out loud. Words that have more than one pronunciation may be hiding.”

Go beyond what you see: Liu teases that some clues serve as fragments of a fuller answer. For example, ego, guilt, head, and power can all precede trip, while others may be connected by shared prefixes or suffixes. “If there’s a word that you can’t seem to fit anywhere, maybe it’s a part of a wordplay-based category. Look at the structure of the word to see if it becomes a different word when letters are added or removed.”