Crossword puzzles flex one very specific piece of cognition--the ability to find words, which is also known as fluency. Fluency is a type of process based in the speech and language centers of the brain. So doing crosswords might help you get better at word finding, but that's the sum total of their positive benefits to your brain.
misnomer. n. 1. an incorrect or unsuitable name or term for a person or thing. 2. the act of referring to a person by the wrong name.
nonÂ·sense. n. 1. Words or signs having no intelligible meaning: a message that was nonsense until decoded. 2. Subject matter, behavior, or language that is foolish or absurd.3. Extravagant foolishness or frivolity: a clown's exuberant nonsense.alderdash Nonsense; a meaningless jumble of words. Used throughout most of the 17th century to mean a hodgepodge of liquors, this word began to be used in its current sense in the latter part of the same century.