Okay, so today I decided to tackle a “grit” crossword clue. I’ve always found these things to be a bit of a mixed bag – sometimes super easy, sometimes ridiculously hard.
I started by scanning the crossword, looking for any clues that immediately jumped out at me. Nothing. Alright, time to focus on “grit.” My first thought was, “What words are even related to grit?”
I grabbed a piece of scrap paper and started jotting down anything that came to mind:
- Perseverance
- Determination
- Courage
- Toughness
- Sand? (Like, actual grit)
I then went back to the crossword, checking how many letters the answer needed. Six letters! Okay, that narrowed it down. “Sand” was a contender, in a very literal sense. “Courage” was to long.
I considered the intersecting words. One of them was looking it need a word like, “dust”. Another was “rock” related words!
So, I tried “gravel”. Six *’s seems to good, let’s try it.
Bingo! “GRAVEL” fit perfectly, and it made sense with the other clues I had already solved. It wasn’t about the feeling of grit, but the actual, physical stuff. Clever!
It’s funny how sometimes the most obvious answer is the one you overlook. I was so focused on the metaphorical meaning of “grit” that I almost missed the literal one. I was quite excited to complete it.
