And you thought a crossword puzzle was a lawless place? An unseeable place — like the inside of your brain — where you make up your own rules?

Ha.

The game has rules. You know it. We know it. They just are not written down anywhere.

So I am going to do that now. To make sure we all know what “solving” a crossword entails.

1. No reference materials may be used. Ever. An absolute. Not even to look up the precise spelling of a word you know to be the correct answer … aside from that “i before e?” order. Not even to check on the spelling of a word in a foreign language you have never studied. And you cannot use google to search for the capital of Ghana. No.

2. You cannot ask for help. Of any sort. Ever. An example. “Hey, name a couple of movies Pacino was in …”  Another example: “What are the first 3-4 signs of the Zodiac that come to mind?” No prompting from outside sources.

3. You cannot page back among a book of crosswords looking for an arcane word you know you used within the past month. No. You puzzled it out then; you must do so again.

4. No looking at the solved puzzles in the back. Well, duh. Not a peek. If you accidentally see an answer on a future puzzle … and you remember that answer when you actually get to that puzzle … may as well stop, because you can’t actually “win” that one.

5. The entire grid must be filled in. Can’t leave open a square because you’re not sure. Can’t tell yourself, “Well, I didn’t get anything wrong. “Not wrong” is not right.

6. One mistake means the crossword is a failure. In crosswords, only “perfect” is a successful result.

(If this sounds reminiscent of the Ten Commandments, with all the “thou shalt nots” … well, it is.)

6. One bit of outside help that is allowed is accidentally bumping into a bit of information. (You’re at the office, and the day you couldn’t recall the capital of Ghana, you come across a story with the dateline of “Accra” … Going back and putting it into the puzzle is allowed because you came by the information organically. You were not searching for it. (And you will know when you’re cheating yourself on this. You can’t do a search for Ghana and “accidentally” find Accra. You know it.)

To do a crossword, to win it fair and square, is a difficult process, but in your bones you know it ought to be. On your own. Only you, your brain and a pencil/pen. No other externals.

You may miss a batch of crosswords (the big, Sunday ones) by one or two letters … but that is all it takes for it to be a failure.

The up side? The little rush of satisfaction you get from a perfectly filled out grid.

It’s worth it to do it right.