FRIDAY PUZZLE — Let’s say that this is the first Friday crossword puzzle you’ve ever tackled. You’re a pretty confident solver by now, having pushed your way through the increasingly tough puzzles, and now you feel ready for an even bigger challenge. Should you feel intimidated?

Of course you should. No one ever said this was going to be easy.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. The trick is to trust the skill set you’ve developed by solving the earlier puzzles in the week. If you understand what the clues are asking of you on all the other days of the week, there is no reason to believe that those skills will somehow evaporate just because it is Friday. Those same rules — matching tenses, partner clues, how to break down a question mark clue — work on every day of the week. You just might have to think a little harder, that’s all.

And you can lean on those who have solved before you. Ask questions. Veteran themeless crossword solvers, what say you? If you could give new Friday puzzle solvers some tips, what would they be?

This is all to say that I really enjoyed solving Trent Evans’s puzzle and, if you are sitting there with the puzzle in front of you not knowing whether you should solve it or not, I vote that you give it a try too.