You’re staring at the grid, the ink is starting to feel permanent, and there it is: "Take your time." Four letters. Or maybe it’s five. Or seven. Honestly, it’s one of those clues that makes you want to toss the Sunday Times across the room because it’s so versatile it’s basically meaningless without a few crossing letters. We’ve all been there, stuck in that mental loop where you’re toggling between "SASHAY" and "LOITER" while the clock ticks.
Crosswords are weird. They require a specific kind of lateral thinking that most people associate with high-level logic, but really, it’s about understanding the specific brand of playfulness a constructor brings to the table. When you see take your time crossword clues, you aren't just looking for a synonym. You’re looking for the vibe of the puzzle.
The Usual Suspects for Take Your Time
Most of the time, the answer is "IDLE." It’s the bread and butter of Monday and Tuesday puzzles. It’s short, it’s common, and it fits the literal definition. But as the week progresses, the NYT, LA Times, and Wall Street Journal editors—shout out to Will Shortz and Mike Shenk—start getting a bit more creative. They move away from the literal and toward the idiomatic.
If you have six letters, you’re probably looking at "DAWDLE." It’s a great word. It sounds like what it means. It’s phonetic. If the grid is asking for something a bit more sophisticated, "LOITER" might pop up, though that usually carries a slightly more "standing outside a 7-Eleven" connotation than just relaxing. Then there’s "LAG." Three letters. Simple. Effective. If you're trailing behind, you're taking your time, albeit perhaps not voluntarily.
Sometimes the clue is more of an instruction. "DON'T RUSH." That’s eight letters. It shows up in those mid-week puzzles where the constructor wants to mess with your internal rhythm. You’re looking for a verb, but they give you a phrase. It’s a classic misdirection.
Why Wordplay Changes Everything
The beauty—and the frustration—of the take your time crossword hunt is the context. If the clue has a question mark at the end, throw the dictionary out the window. "Take your time?" with a question mark might actually be "STEAL." Think about it. If you "take" someone's "Time" (the magazine), you’re literally taking Time. It’s a pun. Constructors like Joel Fagliano or Robyn Weintraub love this kind of stuff. It’s what makes a crossword a game rather than just a vocabulary test.
You also have to look for the "part of speech" trap. If the clue is "Taking one’s time," the answer has to end in -ING. "POKING" or "NOSING" or "AMBLING." If it’s "Took one's time," it’s "WAITED" or "TARRIED." Tarry is a crossword favorite because nobody uses it in real life anymore. Seriously, when was the last time you told someone you were going to tarry at the grocery store? Probably never. But in the world of the 15x15 grid, people tarry all the time.
The "SASHAY" Factor
I mentioned "SASHAY" earlier. It’s a specific kind of taking your time. It implies a certain level of confidence or style. If the clue is "Take your time on the catwalk," you better believe it’s "SASHAY." This is where the "E-E-A-T" (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) of crossword solving comes in. You start to recognize the "flavor" of the clue. A "catwalk" reference immediately narrows your mental dictionary.
Real Examples from Recent Grids
Let's look at some specific instances that have tripped people up in the last year or two.
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In a New York Times puzzle from late 2024, "Take your time" was "DALLY." It’s a five-letter word that feels a bit old-fashioned, similar to "TARRY." If you had the "A" from a crossing word like "CAT," you might have been tempted by "DAWDLE," but the length would stop you. This is why you always check your counts first.
Another one that shows up in the Universal Crossword frequently is "MOSEY." It’s a five-letter word that implies a casual, Western-style stroll. It’s a very common answer for "Take your time" when the puzzle has a slightly more informal tone.
Then there’s the longer stuff.
- "ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL" (sometimes used metaphorically for taking too much time/being negligent).
- "DRAG ONES FEET" (thirteen letters, perfect for a long horizontal across the middle).
- "STROLL" (six letters, straightforward).
How to Beat the Constructor at Their Own Game
If you're stuck on a take your time crossword clue, don't just stare at the white squares. That's how you get "gridlock." Use the cross-references.
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- Check the tense. Does the clue end in -ed? Your answer probably does too.
- Look for plurals. If the clue is "They take their time," look for an "S" at the end of the squares.
- Identify the "Vibe." Is it a slangy puzzle? "HANG" might be it. Is it formal? "LINGER" is more likely.
- Count the letters twice. It sounds stupid, but the number of times people try to shove "DAWDLE" into a five-letter space is higher than you'd think.
Crossword construction is an art form. People like Deb Amlen at the NYT's "Wordplay" column spend hours dissecting why certain clues work and others feel "unfair." The "Take your time" clue is generally considered "fair" because it has so many legitimate synonyms, but it’s the crossing words that act as the judge and jury.
The Psychological Component of Solving
There is actually a bit of science behind why we struggle with these. Cognitive flexibility is the ability to switch between thinking about two different concepts. When you see "Take your time," your brain usually anchors on one meaning—usually "to be slow." Breaking that anchor to see it as "to steal a magazine" or "to move with style" requires your prefrontal cortex to work overtime.
This is also why your brain sometimes "pops" the answer into your head while you're doing something else, like washing dishes or walking the dog. It's called the "Incubation Effect." Your subconscious keeps working on the take your time crossword clue even when you've moved on to the next one.
Actionable Strategy for Your Next Puzzle
Stop trying to guess the word in isolation. It's a losing game. Instead, work the "downs" that go through the "across" clue. If you can get just the first letter of "Take your time," your options drop from twenty down to maybe two or three.
If you get a "D," it's probably "DALLY" or "DAWDLE."
If you get an "L," it's "LINGER" or "LOITER."
If you get an "S," you're looking at "STROLL" or "SASHAY."
The best way to get better at this is volume. The more puzzles you solve, the more you realize that constructors have "pet words." They love words with lots of vowels (like "OLEO" or "ETUI") and they love versatile clues like "Take your time." Once you realize that "TARRY" and "DALLY" are the secret handshakes of the crossword world, you'll stop being intimidated by them.
Next time you see "Take your time" in a grid, don't rush. Take the clue's advice literally. Breathe. Look at the crosses. The answer is usually simpler than you’re making it.
To improve your solving speed, try focusing on the "short" words first—the 3 and 4-letter fillers. These are the scaffolding of the puzzle. Once "LAG" or "IDLE" is in place, the larger 15-letter "spanners" that go across the whole grid start to reveal themselves. You'll find that the "Take your time" clues often act as the connective tissue between the more difficult, themed entries. Master the "short and easy" synonyms, and the "long and complex" wordplay will naturally follow.