My daughters beat me so badly in The Mini crossword puzzle that I have to believe I'm deteriorating mentally

A few months ago I wrote about the fact that I do four New York Times puzzles every morning (Wordle, Connections, Strands, and The Mini.)

My performance varies from day to day, but generally speaking, I'm OK at Wordle, pretty good with Connections, very good at Strands, and not so good with The Mini.

The Mini is a small crossword puzzle that can usually be completed in about a minute. Sometimes faster, sometimes slower.

I thought I was pretty decent at The Mini until I accepted my daughter Chloe's invitation to create a leaderboard for the game whereby you can compare your performance with other people. We have since added Elissa and Jack to that daily leaderboard.

I quickly realized that either Chloe and Elissa are geniuses at this puzzle, or I'm slow to the point of potential brain dysfunction.

As an example, here was a typical five-day stretch in mid-February comparing how quickly Chloe and I completed The Mini each day:

February 11: Chloe 33 seconds, me 1:07

February 12: Chloe 27 seconds, me 54 seconds

February 13: Chloe 1:05, me 1:29

February 14: Chloe 59 seconds, me 2:29

February 15: Chloe 1:12, me 2:12

In the several weeks since we created our leaderboard, I think I have been faster than my daughters maybe twice each, and those involved lucky guesses on my part.

I know Chloe and Elissa, at 28 and 31, respectively, are in their mental prime, while I (at 55) clearly am not. But still...when you think of yourself as a "Word Guy" and your kids – along with probably nearly everyone else who regularly completes The Mini – leave you in the dust, it's time to question whether you're losing it for good this time.

My only recourse is to assume my kids are somehow cheating. They're highly intelligent, sure, but I can't accept this level of defeat at face value.

I have become one of those New York Times puzzle people

Do you sometimes log onto Facebook and see friends posting little graphics that look something like the image above? And do you ever wonder exactly what they are?

Or do you know what they are but you don't care and instead keep on scrolling while grumbling about people clogging up your feed?

Whichever may be true for you, I understand both ends of this equation. For a long time I would see Facebook pals posting about how long it took them to figure out the Wordle, or how frustrating that day's Connections was, and I would just scroll right past without giving it a second – or sometimes even a first – thought.

Until one day a couple of months ago when I downloaded the NYT Games app and became one of...Them.

Rarely does a day go by now when I don't play (in this order) the New York Times' Wordle, Connections, Strands and Mini games.

You can also do the full NYT Crossword on the app, along with games like Spelling Bee, Sudoku, Letter Boxed and Tiles, but I stick to my core four.

This is mostly because I don't have the time to play every game the paper offers, but also because, after mentally working my way through those four, I have little patience and even less mental energy left to devote to the others.

There is something to be said, as you get a little bit older, for stretching your brain through these types of puzzle games. And Lord knows my brain could use a little stretching, given all the things I either forget or fail to notice on a daily basis.

But ultimately, I just find them fun. And there's a sense of accomplishment when, for example, I get the Wordle in 2-3 guesses or figure out the four Connections categories without a single mistake.

I'm not one to post my results on Facebook, but I'm grateful for friends who do because I like getting tips from them or commiserating over a particularly devilish offering from the Times folks.

I encourage you to join our little cult community of puzzle people. It's fun. Really.

Believe me, no one is going to force you to start sharing your performance on Facebook.

You'll do that on your own with no prompting from any of us.

Four relatively easy things you can do to improve your writing

I don't claim to be Ernest Hemingway (or Ernest Borgnine, for that matter), but I can do a passable imitation of a competent writer.

Writing comes fairly easily to me. Many, many people are better at it than I am, while many others are worse. I'm not sure if that's enough to convince you that I'm an authority, but I'm hoping it's enough to convince you at least to stick around for a few hundred more words.

Looking to become a better writer? There are lots of things you can do. Some are difficult to learn, others are not. The following four items fall into the "not" category:

Write Like You Talk

You may have heard this before, and that's because it works. If you're confident in your ability to express thoughts and ideas orally, then your writing should merely be an extension of that. Writing in your own "voice" is generally more effective and certainly more authentic than trying to sound like someone you're not. 

For what it's worth, this tip reminds me of the excellent "Writes Like She Talks" blog maintained by Jill Miller Zimon. The blog itself and the associated blogroll of links to other blogs are both worth your time.

Try Not to Repeat a Word Right After You've Used It

Like I said, these are "relatively easy things." Nothing complex here. If you use a certain word in, say, the first sentence of a paragraph, you probably don't want to use it again in the second. Especially if it's an adjective or another distinctive word, the use of which will stand out in the reader's mind and quite possibly distract him/her. You want the reader focusing on your thoughts, not on your word usage.

Grey Blocks of Text Are Your Enemy

One of the greatest writing tips I ever received came from Joe Magill, a guy who served as one of my track coaches in high school and later was a colleague in The News-Herald sports department.

One time after I had written what I thought was a particularly engaging feature story, Joe called me over to his computer screen. First he showed me my article, then he showed me one he had just written. He asked what the difference was between the two, visually speaking. I immediately noticed that his story had lots of short paragraphs, while mine had relatively few and noticeably longer paragraphs.

Readers are subconsciously turned off by paragraphs that look like they require work to get through. Online writing, in particular, demands a short, punchy style. No long, plodding sentences or paragraphs. Make them short, and hit the "enter" key often.

Don't Worry, You Can Go Back and Edit It Later

A lot of people don't like writing because their first drafts aren't pristine and perfect. Here's a hint: Nobody's first drafts are pristine and perfect.

The important thing when you're writing something is first to get your thoughts down on paper (or computer screen), and then to worry about structure, sentence flow and the like. Unless you're writing a front-page story for tomorrow's New York Times, in which case you certainly wouldn't need me telling you how to write, you'll have time to revise your masterpiece.

So don't let your quest for immediate Pulitzer Prize-winning copy keep you from finishing. Plow through that first draft and then go back and see where things stand. It will be OK, trust me.