Hahaha no you're not! I assume that you just don't do many crosswords, and that's ok. Crosswords are about 90% practice and 10% random knowledge/luck. So if you're interested, here's a quick guide to how to solve crosswords:

1. Look at the title of the puzzle. In this case, the title is Neologisms Coined on The Simpsons. This title indicates the theme of the puzzle and usually applies to the longest clues or in this case, those indicated by an asterisk. Now I didn't know what a Neologism was when I started this puzzle, but from Latin, we can see that it is based off of the root 'logos' which means it has to do with language or words. So basically in this puzzle we can determine that we're looking for words or phrases coined by The Simpsons. It actually means a newly coined word or phrase, but this rough approximation is really enough.

2. Know the rules. There are basic rules that govern crossword puzzles. If a clue is given as a plural, e.g. 9. Across: Downtimes, we know that the answer in the puzzle will be plural. Same goes for tenses - past tense clues will give past tense answers. Similarly, if a clue is abbreviated, the answer will usually be abbreviated (but not always - there are some exceptions). Finally, clues with a question mark indicated that the answer is a play on words (for instance, if the clue was Maiden's last words? The answer could be I DO.) There are some more listed here, but those are the major ones to start.

3. Work in blocks. Everyone has their own style, but I like to work in little blocks. Use words you're pretty sure on to help you solve other clues. So for this puzzle just look around until you find a clue that you're confident you know the answer to. In this case I saw 20 Across: Arcade Currency and I knew that the answer was almost definitely TOKENS. From there you can work your way through that top left corner.

4. Identify the themed clues. So in this case, the themed clues are marked by asterisks. So let's take a look. The first is 17 Across: *Fine, acceptable. So since we know the theme of the puzzle is Neologisms Coined on The Simpsons, we know to look for a Simpsons term that means fine/acceptable. Now, if you're a Simpsons buff, you might know it off the bat, or it might take a few Down clues to give you a start. Either way, you can eventually figure out that the answer to the clue is CROMULENT. Same process applies to 24, 39, and 53 Across and 62 Down.

5. Know common words. This really just comes with practice, but there are common words that are in nearly every crossword. Some that come to mind are: OREO, ASP (snake), IRE, ERE, IRK, OGLE, and AORTA. There are hundreds more that you pick up eventually.

Hope this helps! I find crosswords to be really clever and enjoyable, and I regularly laugh out loud playing them. Like I said, it just takes a little practice.