Okay, so today I got stuck on this crossword puzzle, the one from the New York Times, you know? The clue was “pony up,” and I was like, what does that even mean? I mean, I’ve heard the phrase before, usually when someone owes money and they’re told to, like, cough it up.
So, I started digging around. First, I tried to solve it myself, staring at the puzzle, trying to fit in different words. I even tried restarting the whole thing by going to that little hamburger menu and hitting “clear.” No luck. That didn’t help at all.
Then, I went online. Found some articles about the phrase, and it turns out it’s an American thing. Apparently, it used to be related to actual horses, but it has taken a life of its own, and now it means to pay up what you owe. It’s kind of become a classic phrase, you know?
I read through a bunch of stuff, trying to understand the history and all that. There were even some stories from the Intelligencer. It was interesting, but it didn’t help me solve the puzzle. In the process, I also learned that many people are doing this crossword puzzle, for example, it takes an average of nine minutes and twenty-four seconds to complete a puzzle. I thought I was so dumb, but it turns out it’s pretty normal.
- Tried to solve the puzzle.
- Restarted the puzzle.
- Looked up the phrase online.
- Read articles about its history and usage.
Anyway, after all that, I finally figured it out, the answer was “pay.” And now I know the background of that phrase. What a day, right? Doing crossword puzzles is not only fun but also helps you learn new things!
