Alright, so today I tackled the NYT crossword. Saw the title, “that makes sense,” and figured, okay, maybe this one will be pretty logical, maybe the theme answers will click right into place. Sometimes those titles give you a good hint, sometimes they just mess with your head.
Getting Started
I jumped in like usual, scanning the across clues first. Grabbed a few of the low-hanging fruit pretty quickly, you know, the fill-in-the-blanks and the three-letter words. Felt like I was getting some traction in the top left corner. Pencils down, using a pen today, feeling confident, maybe a bit too much.
Got 1-Across almost immediately, which always feels good. Started working the downs off those letters. Made some decent progress, maybe got the top third filled in without too much trouble. Thought, “Hey, this is going smoothly.” Famous last words, right?
Hitting a Snag
Then I drifted towards the middle and the southeast. Things got sticky. There were a couple of longer answers, both across and down, that just weren’t coming to me. The clues felt a bit tricky, maybe playing on words in a way I wasn’t catching yet. You know how it is, you stare at a clue, you know the answer is probably simple, but your brain just won’t cough it up.
- One clue, maybe something around 34-Down, really had me scratching my head.
- And there was a long across answer that seemed pivotal, but the letters I had didn’t spark anything.
I started jumping around the grid, hoping filling in other sections would give me more letters for the tough spots. That helped a bit, but the core tricky clues remained blank.
The “Aha!” Moment
I decided to focus on one of the long theme answers I had partially filled. Looked at the clue again, looked at the letters… and then it clicked. The clue was referencing something, and the answer was a phrase that, well, literally ‘made sense’ in a punny sort of way. Once I got that first theme answer, the others started to fall into place much faster. I could see the pattern the constructor was going for.
It turned out the theme answers were all common phrases or ideas related to logic or understanding, interpreted in a crossword-y way. Seeing how the theme worked really opened up those difficult sections I was stuck on earlier. The title wasn’t just a cute name; it was pointing right at the gimmick.
Wrapping Up
After breaking the theme, the rest of the grid filled in steadily. Had to guess on one or two proper nouns, crossing my fingers they were right. Ran through all the clues one last time to make sure the crosses worked. And done.
Overall, it was a decent puzzle. Not the hardest ever, but it put up a bit of a fight. The theme was clever enough, and seeing it definitely gave that satisfying “aha!” feeling. Felt good to solve it, especially after getting stuck for a bit there in the middle. Yeah, that makes sense.
