Alright, settled in to tackle the New York Times crossword today. Noticed the theme seemed to be about an ‘olympic powerhouse’, which sounded interesting enough.
Getting Started
So, I grabbed my pen – well, metaphorically, I do it online these days. First thing I did was scan for the easy stuff, you know, the fill-in-the-blanks or the really short answers. Got a few three-letter words scattered around pretty quickly. That always helps build a bit of confidence.
I then started looking at the clues related to the theme. The main ‘olympic powerhouse’ clue itself was a bit long, so I left it for a moment and looked for shorter crossing answers first. Tried to get some letters into that main answer spot.
Working Through It
Made some decent progress down the left side. Filled in a few answers I was sure about. Sometimes you get a longer word and it just opens up a whole section, which is always nice. I think I got stuck for a bit in the middle section. The clues felt a bit tricky there, maybe playing on words a little more than usual.
Realized the ‘powerhouse’ theme was likely pointing towards countries known for winning lots of medals. Started thinking about places like:
- USA
- CHINA
- Maybe RUSSIA, though that’s complicated these days.
- GERMANY too.
Tried plugging some of those in where the letter counts fit and where the crossing letters I already had seemed to work. That helped unlock a few more answers.
Hitting a Snag
There was this one corner, I think it was the bottom right, that really gave me trouble. Had a couple of answers penned in, but the crossers just weren’t making sense. Had to erase, backtrack, rethink those answers completely. It’s always frustrating when you think you’ve got something solid and it turns out to be wrong, messing up everything around it.
The main ‘olympic powerhouse’ clue itself, once I had a few letters, became clearer. I could see what they were going for. It’s satisfying when the theme answers start to reveal themselves like that.
Wrapping Up
Eventually, after staring at the grid for a while longer and trying out different combinations for those tricky spots, things started falling into place. Filled in the last few squares. Always a good feeling to see the grid completely filled, especially after hitting a few walls along the way.
Overall, it was a decent challenge. Not the hardest NYT I’ve done, but definitely made me think, especially with those themed clues. Took a bit of persistence, but got there in the end. Another crossword done.
