Okay, so I was messing around with the NYT crossword, as I usually do on my off days. And I stumbled upon this clue, “particle.” I was like, “Hmm, what could this be?”
At first, I racked my brain for all the science-y words I could remember. You know, the stuff from high school physics and chemistry.
- “Atom?” Nope, too obvious, and didn’t fit the spaces.
- “Electron?” Still no.
- “Quark?” Nah, too short.
Trying a different tactic
I decided to switch it up. Instead of focusing on the “science” meaning, I thought about the word “particle” in a more general sense. Like, a tiny piece of something. A speck. A grain.
Then it hit me, it is likely to refer to grammatical term. And I remembered something. Then I put the answer in. I got it!
So, yeah, that’s how my brain went on a little journey with the word “particle” today. It’s kind of fun to see where these clues take you, even if it’s just in a crossword puzzle.
