u/Dry_Special_3112

I'm getting back into Cookie Clicker after a long break and my biggest enemy is not combos, it's me clicking through menus while half awake. I've ascended a few times, and every time I tell myself I'll be careful with heavenly upgrades and the permanent upgrade slots, then I get excited and either:

- forget to buy some cheap but important heavenly upgrades before reincarnating,

- forget to set my permanent upgrades until after the run has already started, or

- second guess what to put in the perm slots for early game versus late game.

I know the wiki and guides exist, but I'm more interested in your personal routine or checklist that makes it hard to mess up.

Questions:

1. What's your step-by-step order when you ascend? What screens do you open first and what do you buy before you even click reincarnate?

2. Do you keep a fixed set of permanent upgrades, or do you change them based on the goal for that ascension?

3. Any simple habit to avoid the classic brain-off mistake of reincarnating and realizing you forgot something?

For context, I usually play in short check-ins throughout the day (California time) and I tend to miss things when a game hides options behind multiple tabs. I'm trying to build a foolproof flow so I stop losing out on obvious purchases.

Not about any specific puzzle (no spoilers). I do the daily crossword on my phone in the NYT Games app, usually first thing in the morning with coffee, and I keep making the same dumb mistake: I go to type a letter and my thumb lands on the reveal/check button instead. One tap later a square is revealed and my whole solve feels a bit ruined.

I know this is totally my fault, but I'm used to apps asking "Are you sure?" for irreversible actions. In the Games app the reveal area feels way too easy to hit when I'm half awake.

Is there any setting, or an iOS accessibility option, that makes reveal harder to trigger? Like a confirmation prompt, a long-press requirement, moving the buttons, disabling reveal during a solve, anything like that?

If there is no setting, what tricks do you use to avoid accidental reveals? Do you hide the keyboard toolbar, use a stylus, zoom in, switch to the web version, or just accept it and move on?

Would love any tips. I'm trying to keep my solving consistent without turning it into a stressful perfection thing.

Spoiler: this is about the app and streaks, not the puzzle content.

I do the daily crossword on my phone (California, usually half awake with coffee) and I keep running into a maddening UI issue. I tap the NYT Games app to resume the daily crossword, but sometimes it drops me into a different game or yesterday's puzzle, and I do not notice until I'm a few entries in. Then I back out and feel anxious that I accidentally started the wrong day or lost my spot on the real one.

It gives me the same frustration I get from missing time-limited rewards in other apps where claim screens are scattered. Here it's not rewards, it's my streak and my sanity.

Questions:

1. Do you have a routine to make sure you are on the correct date before you start filling? Is there a specific screen you always check first?

2. If you begin typing on the wrong day and immediately exit, can that mess with your streak later, or is the streak only based on completion?

3. Is there a setting or behavior in the app that makes it open to the last active puzzle more reliably, instead of a random landing page?

Not asking for any clue help and not posting any answers. Just trying to avoid self-inflicted streak heartbreak.