Okay, let’s talk about tackling that “weighing more” NYT crossword. It felt like a bit of a workout for the brain this morning.
Getting Started
So, I brewed my usual cup of coffee, sat down, and opened up the puzzle. First few minutes, things seemed pretty normal. I started chipping away at the corners, you know, grabbing the low-hanging fruit – those fill-in-the-blanks and easy four-letter words. Got a few downs, a few acrosses. Felt like I was making decent progress initially.
Hitting the Wall (and the Theme)
Then I started hitting those longer answers, the ones that clearly tied into the theme. “Weighing more,” huh? My first thought went straight to synonyms: HEAVY, FAT, LARGE. But the clues were trickier than just simple definitions. They were doing that NYT wordplay thing. One clue might hint at adding letters, another might be a pun. I got stuck around the middle section. Some answers just weren’t clicking, and the theme felt a bit slippery.
It actually reminded me of this time, totally unrelated, when I was trying to assemble that ridiculously complicated bookshelf from IKEA. Remember those? The instructions look simple, but then you realize piece ‘B’ looks exactly like piece ‘F’, and suddenly you feel the ‘weight’ of the whole unassembled thing bearing down on you. You just stare at a pile of wood and screws feeling heavier yourself. That’s kind of how the middle of this crossword felt – a jumble of letters and clues that seemed designed to make my head feel heavier.
The Breakthrough
I decided to step away for a second. Poured another half-cup of coffee. Sometimes you just need to clear your head, right? Looked back at the grid. I noticed a pattern in a couple of the answers I did have. They involved adding letters, literally making the base word ‘weigh more’ on the grid. Like adding ‘ER’ or ‘EST’ or sometimes even embedding a whole heavier concept.
- Okay, so this clue wasn’t just about weight, it was doing it.
- I started looking for base words hidden in the longer slots.
- Tried adding common weight-related prefixes or suffixes mentally.
Once that clicked, things started falling into place much faster. It was like finally realizing piece ‘B’ had the slightly angled edge on the left side for that bookshelf. Suddenly, connections appeared. An ‘aha!’ moment, you could say. The theme wasn’t just synonyms; it was structural wordplay.
Finishing Up
After figuring out the gimmick, the rest was still challenging – it’s the NYT after all – but it felt manageable. I worked through the remaining theme answers, and they helped unlock the surrounding fill. There were still a few tricky non-theme clues, those obscure bits of trivia or clever puns they always sneak in, but the main roadblock was gone.
Filled in that last square. Felt pretty good, gotta say. It wasn’t the hardest puzzle ever, but figuring out that ‘weighing more’ trick felt like a solid mental accomplishment for the day. Took a bit longer than usual, mainly because of that initial confusion and my brief mental detour to furniture assembly woes, but hey, got there in the end. Another one down.
