Of late I’ver been grabbing a few tiles, laying them out and not making a crossword out of them, but leaving them as is to find as many words or acronyms that are there or relevant.
Crosswords are more restricting. Of course if I’m doing 200 tiles, then crossword or some rendition of it is more effective and more challenging.
It’s a stress reliever in that it switches brain gears onto something more abstract, opening channels (neuropathways) to problem solving.
Make your own set of letter tiles. See where it takes you.