Not really tricks, but I try to see how the clues are formulated.
There are common clues to clue types, such as "in xxxx yyyyy", meaning the answer word spans those two given. If you've already a crossing letter, the rest may come from counting along the source characters.
Words that appear to have no connection to the rest of the clue at all, may be anagrams; and those are sometimes suggested by descriptions like "perhaps" or "roughly".
Others can have abbreviations that give two or three of the solution's letters, such as "railway" giving "ry"; but these can be disguised further. For example, "sailor" in the clue might give "ab" (able-seaman rank) or the colloquialism, "tar".
My local paper uses syndicated puzzles and these seem drawn from several different compilers, so different styles and difficulty.
Sometimes I test the word I think wanted by writing it separately from the puzzle itself, and dissecting it according to the clue. That only proves or disproves it though.
A good dictionary and thesaurus can be a great help, of course.
I work through in clue order, from 1 Across to last Down, skipping the ones I can't solve immediately, hoping that will scatter enough joint letters around to help fill the spaces. Sometimes I spot the answer only on a later session, as if absence from it resets my thinking.
