Okay, let me tell you about this crossword puzzle I wrestled with recently.
Getting Started
So, I found this old newspaper lying around, maybe from a few weeks back. Usually, I just glance at the headlines, but this time, the crossword puzzle caught my eye. Looked a bit more challenging than the usual ones I breeze through. Thought to myself, “Alright, let’s give this a proper go.” Poured myself a coffee, grabbed a pencil – a proper pencil, mind you, with an eraser, because I had a feeling I’d need it – and settled down at the kitchen table.
Started off pretty okay, actually. Filled in a few of the easier clues, you know, the short words, the obvious ones. Got maybe a quarter of it done in the first ten minutes. Feeling pretty pleased with myself at this point, thinking, “Maybe this won’t be so tough after all.”
Hitting the Wall
Then, bang. Hit a wall. Hard. There were these clues, especially in the bottom right corner, that just made no sense. Absolutely none. The kind where you read it five times and you’re still scratching your head. The crossing words didn’t help much either, because they were also blank or had letters that didn’t seem to fit anything sensible.
I spent a good hour just staring at it. Seriously, just staring. Tried thinking laterally, tried puns, tried anagrams in my head. Nothing clicked. The coffee went cold. My pencil felt heavy. I could feel that frustration building up, you know? The urge to just screw it up and toss it was strong. I actually put the pencil down and walked away for a bit. Made another coffee, looked out the window, tried to clear my head.
The Grapple Itself
Came back to it after lunch. Decided to change tactics. Instead of trying to crack the impossible clues, I went back over the ones I’d already filled in. Checked them again. Sometimes you make a silly mistake early on that messes everything up later. Found one small error, actually! Corrected it. Didn’t unlock the whole puzzle, but it felt like progress.
Then I focused on just one tricky word. Ignored everything else. Just this one seven-letter word going down. What could it be? I listed possible letters based on the one crossing letter I was sure about. Sounded out combinations. Wrote possibilities in the margin. Erased them. Wrote some more. It was proper grappling, wrestling with the letters and the clue.
- Read the clue again. And again.
- Looked at the crossing letters I thought might be right.
- Tried thinking about the puzzle’s potential theme (didn’t seem to have one).
- Just let my mind wander around the clue’s meaning.
Suddenly, it clicked! One of those “aha!” moments. It was a word I knew, but used in a slightly odd way in the clue. Once I got that one, it gave me three new letters for other crossing words. And just like that, the logjam started to break. One word led to another, then another. The bottom right corner, which had looked impossible, slowly started to fill up.
Finishing Up
It still took time, mind you. Another hour or so of concentrated effort. More erasing, more thinking, but now it felt like I was winning. The clues that seemed nonsensical before started to make sense with the new letters in place. Finally, I pencilled in the very last letter. Done.
Sat back and looked at the completed grid. A bit messy, with all the erasing, but full. Felt pretty darn good, I have to say. Not just because it was finished, but because I’d stuck with it. I’d grappled with that thing and come out on top. It was a reminder that sometimes you just gotta keep chipping away, even when it feels impossible. A good mental workout, that’s for sure.
