"Ooh I really don't want to have to use another pair of cheater squares or go above 140 words" I say to myself over and over knowing that crossword solvers definitely care a lot about cheater squares and how many words a crossword has.

What solvers *really* care about is that the grid is pangrammatic. Even if you have to go to 290 three-letter words, the important thing is to get a Q and a J in there somewhere.

👀

Helper squares for the win! 🥰

i always count how many words there are in a crossword and if it's over the legal limit i burn the entire newspaper and call the authorities