Okay, so I saw this crossword, right? The title was something like “keen to get started”. Made me chuckle a bit, ’cause sometimes you are, and sometimes you just stare at the thing.
First Look
Grabbed my usual pen – the one that kinda blobs ink sometimes, but feels right. Spread the newspaper out on the table, nearly knocked over my coffee. Typical. I scanned the grid first, like I always do. See how many long words there are, check the layout. Looked pretty standard, nothing too wild.
Then I read a few clues. You know how it is, you hope for some really obvious ones to get you going. That “keen to get started” feeling, I guess. Found a couple of easy three-letter words right off the bat. Scribbled those in. Felt good, like okay, maybe I can do this today.
Getting Stuck In
Started working through the ‘Across’ clues mostly. Got maybe five or six pretty quick. Felt a bit smug, honestly. Then I hit 14 Across. Total blank. Read it like five times. Nope. Nada. Moved on to ‘Down’.
- Found a few intersecting letters from the Across ones I’d already filled. That helped.
- Filled in a couple more Down clues.
- Still stuck on 14 Across and now a few tricky Down ones too.
The “keen” part was definitely fading a little by now. It was turning into the usual slog. Stared at the tricky corner for ages. You know that thing where you just look at the empty squares hoping the letters will magically appear?
Pushing Through
Had to get up, walk around a bit. Made another coffee. Came back and looked at it fresh. Sometimes that works. This time? Kinda. I spotted a word I should’ve seen ages ago. Filled that in, and it gave me the starting letter for that blasted 14 Across.
Aha! Suddenly the clue made sense. Wrote it in, nice and bold. Felt like a genius for about ten seconds. Then I saw the next clue I was stuck on. Back to square one, almost.
Worked on it for maybe another twenty minutes. Got most of it filled. There were still two clues, just two, that I could not figure out for the life of me. The intersecting letters didn’t help much either, could have been a few different things.
Wrapping Up
In the end, I left those two blank. Annoying, right? So close. But hey, that’s crosswords. You win some, you almost win others. That initial “keen” feeling? Yeah, it was there at the start, definitely. By the end, it was more like “keen to be finished”. Still, wasn’t a bad way to spend half an hour. Filled most of it out, got the brain working a bit. Can’t complain too much.
