Sat down with the NYT crossword this morning, like I usually do. Got stuck on one clue pretty early on: “portions out”. Six letters.
My first thought immediately went to words like “shares” or “divides”. Makes sense, right? When you portion something out, you’re sharing it. But “shares” didn’t quite fit with the letters I already had down from other words crossing it. I think I had an ‘L’ as the second letter, so `_ L _ _ _ S`.
So, “shares” was out. “Divides” is too long anyway. Started running through other ideas in my head. What else means “portions out”?
- Distributes? Too long.
- Allocates? Too long again.
- Gives? Too short.
This is where the crossing letters really help. That ‘L’ was key. I stared at `_ L _ _ _ S` for a bit. What fits? Then it clicked. ALLOTS.
Yeah, “allots”. It means exactly “portions out”. Like, the committee allots funds. It fit the letter count, fit the ‘L’ I had, and just felt right. Penciled it in.
That Little Puzzle Buzz
It’s always satisfying when you wrestle with a clue like that and finally nail it down. It wasn’t super hard, but it just took a minute for my brain to get there. You gotta look beyond the most obvious synonyms sometimes and think about how the puzzle writers twist things. Checking the crosses is half the battle, really. Anyway, moved on to the next clue after that small victory.
