I can't speak for roberts, but I only do the timed game on puzzles that he has started. Otherwise I plod along in smaller puzzles until I have either gotten a rosette or reached Maven level, which can take quite a while. He likes the largest puzzles, so sometimes I just start my own just to have something more manageable. The smaller puzzles also are more challenging in terms of vocabulary and variety of letter selection. They can be real mind-stretchers!