I'm a blind crossword player, and I finally managed to solve a mini under a minute
I started doing the crosswords last December after spending the last few years assuming, mostly incorrectly, that they were inaccessible to me.
For reference, I’m totally blind and use screen-reading software that lets me navigate with keyboard commands and have everything read aloud.
Part of what slows me down is naturally just lack of knowledge in certain categories. I do the mini and midi every day, but I usually only do the regular crossword Monday–Wednesday because the later days still melt my brain.
The other issue, though, is that I can’t actually see the board. My experience of the puzzle is entirely letter-by-letter, so I have to memorize a lot or constantly double-check myself.
I navigate the grid with the arrow keys (which I think you probably do too?), but if I want to know what letter I already entered in a square, I have to hit Escape to move to the edit field, check the letter there, then return to the puzzle. It gets...tedious. Especially with longer answers.
Each square gets read aloud like:
“2D: Signature products of Napa Valley. Answer: 5 letters. Letter: 1.”
But it doesn’t automatically read the letter I already typed into that square unless I manually check the edit field.
The worst part is when I finish the puzzle but have one incorrect square somewhere. I have to individually check EVERY SINGLE SQUARE to find the error. On the mini it’s manageable because there are so few squares, but it still eats up valuable seconds if I’m trying to beat a certain time.
I’ve actually contacted NYT about this already a few months ago. If the screen reader announced the entered letter whenever I arrowed onto a square, it would help so much.
Anyway, today I finally managed a 54 second mini (and an 8:47 midi), and I’m proud of it 😂
Also, if there are any other blind players here who’ve figured out a better method, please let me know!