So, I was just messing around online today, and I stumbled upon this crossword puzzle thing. The clue was “recruits,” and I was like, “Huh, let’s give this a shot.” I’ve always been a fan of word games, but I haven’t really done a crossword in ages.
First, I tried to think of all the words related to “recruits” that I could remember. You know, words like “enlist,” “draft,” stuff like that. I jotted them down on a piece of paper, just brainstorming, not really caring about the length of the words at this point. It felt good, like stretching my brain muscles or something.
Then, I started looking at how many letters the answer needed. Some websites said it should be 7 letters, others gave different answers. I figured I’d start with the 7-letter ones since that seemed to be the most common. I went through my list and picked out the ones that fit: “ENLISTS” seemed like a good candidate. It fits the meaning and the length.
- ENLISTS (7 letters)
- APPRENTICES (11 letters)
I also saw some solutions with more or fewer letters, like 11 letters and others. But they didn’t quite seem right, you know? “ENLISTS” just felt like the best fit. There were some other longer words, but I was pretty sure this was a shorter one, So I was like 7 letters maybe it’s “ENLISTS”.
And I went ahead and tried “ENLISTS” in the puzzle, and bam, it fit perfectly! I was so stoked. It was like, “Yes! I still got it!” It’s a small win, but it made my day. I felt like a champ, seriously. The puzzle was part of the New York Times crossword, which made it even cooler, I guess. I think there were like 3 or 4 other possible answers, but they didn’t really fit as well as mine. I saw that someone found like 59 answers, another person found 14, another 40. But I still think mine is right.
What I found
It’s funny how such a simple thing can make you feel accomplished. I ended up spending a good chunk of my afternoon doing more crosswords, just for fun. I guess I rediscovered a little hobby today. Also, I found out that the longest solution that other people found is “APPRENTICES”, I didn’t get that one, but that’s okay.
