A well-done Sunday crossword — the big ones, preferably those from the New York Times, the Cadillacs of American English crosswords — are often not fun.

You sit and stare at the page and, if you work in ink, as I do, you do not guess at answers before filling in letters. So you find yourself roving back and forth over 100-plus clues, and often it seems as if you will never solve the puzzle. Especially early, and especially when you are not certain of the significance of the overall clue to the 21-by-21 (or, better, 23-by-23) grid.

Like, say, “Eland” or “@%?!” — two recent puzzle clues.

But to solve these puzzles is to feel a bit triumphant — after periods of loathing directed towards the creators of the puzzles, who often do not quite play fair — such as one Ernie Furtado, who in one puzzle required answers in French (amoi), Italian (eri), Latin (oro), Chinese (kuoyu), Portuguese (sete) and Hawaian (lehua) in one puzzle?.

But if the puzzles are done well, and you finally break them down, you find yourself wanting to share some clues — and their “oh, I get it!”) answers.

To wit:

The “@%?!” clue was not a suggestion that the crossword would contain obscenities.

It meant that the long answers, in the puzzle, would contain answers using symbols but pronouncing them as words. % equals “percent” and & equals “and” …

Clue: “Like every other book page”. Answer: “odd#ed. odd numbered.

Clue: “These are hardly modern art”. Answer: “.pieces. Period pieces. get it?

Clue: “Big Apple landmark”. Answer: “gr&(cent)ralstation. Grand Central station. (This laptop keyboard does not include the symbol for “cent”, but the puzzle did.)

Another one that was fun was “Candyland”

Clue: “Actress Barbara shows affection for EMTs?”

Answer: “hersheykisseslifesavers”.

Clue: “Dustin persona wheels young Dr. Westheimer”.

Answer: “tootsierollsbabyruth”.

Clue: “Ingenue’s elderly beau bespeckles Della’s mug?”

Answer: “sugardaddydotsreecescup”.

The clue mentioned a bit earlier, “eland”?

That meant the entire enormous puzzle used only “e” as a vowel. No a-i-o-u, and not y, either. E land.

The clue that summed it up? “Unacceptable for this puzzle?”

The answer: “eless”.

I don’t expect many people to fight through Sunday crosswords. Especially the NYT version.

But I generally wrestle them to the ground; a puzzle usually is ongoing, in my life, and by coming back to it two or three or four times, I eventually get 99 percent of the answers correctly. And then I want to share some of the clever bits.