Okay, so today I decided to tackle the “grove” NYT crossword. I’ve been doing these crosswords on and off for a while, and they can be pretty tricky, but hey, that’s part of the fun, right?
Getting Started
I grabbed my iPad, opened up the NYT Crossword app, and found today’s puzzle. I like doing these on my iPad because it’s easier to erase, you know? No messy pencil marks everywhere.
The First Few Clues
I always start by scanning the clues for anything that jumps out at me immediately. Fill-in-the-blanks and really short answers are usually good starting points. I got a few of those right away, which gave me some crossing letters to work with. It’s like building a little foundation.
Stuck in the Middle
There was this one section in the middle that totally stumped me. I had like, three letters filled in and just couldn’t figure out the rest. I spent a good 20 minutes staring at it, trying different combinations of letters in my head. I even Googled a couple of things – don’t judge! Sometimes you just need a little nudge.
Breaking Through
- I went back to some of the clues I’d skipped earlier, thinking maybe a fresh look would help.
- And it did! I finally cracked one of the longer clues, and that gave me a bunch of new letters in that tough section.
- It was like a chain reaction – once I got that one word, a few others started falling into place.
The Final Stretch
With most of the puzzle filled in, it was just a matter of cleaning up the last few clues. Some were still tricky, but by now I had enough crossing letters that I could usually make a pretty good guess. There’s always that one clue, though, that makes you go “Oh, duh!” when you finally get it. It’s usually something super obvious, but your brain just wasn’t seeing it.
I finally filled in the last square, and the little “puzzle solved” jingle played. Always a satisfying feeling! Even if it takes me a while, it’s cool to see the whole grid filled in. It’s a nice feeling, knowing that I will share it.
