Okay, so I was tackling the NYT crossword the other day, just my usual morning routine with a cup of coffee.
Hitting a Wall
Things were going pretty smoothly, you know, filling in the easy ones, getting a few of the longer answers. Then I hit this clue: “Set of rounds”. Four letters. My mind immediately jumped to boxing. Yeah, like a boxing match has a set of rounds, right? So I thought, maybe “BOUT”? It fit the letter count. Seemed plausible.
I penciled it in lightly. But then, the crossing clues started causing trouble. The ‘O’ seemed okay for one, but the ‘U’ and ‘T’ just weren’t fitting with the words going down. That’s always frustrating, when you think you’ve got it, but the grid tells you otherwise.
Thinking It Through
So, I erased “BOUT”. Back to square one. “Set of rounds”. What else comes in rounds?
- Drinks? Like buying a round at the bar? Nah, “drinks” is too long, and “round” itself doesn’t fit the “set of” part.
- Applause? A round of applause? Again, doesn’t fit the clue structure or the letter count.
- Maybe something military? Like patrol rounds? Didn’t feel quite right for “set of”.
I stared at the grid. Looked at the letters I did have from the crossing words. I had an ‘A’ in the first spot and maybe an ‘M’ somewhere. A M _ _. “Set of rounds”… A M… It clicked.
The Answer
AMMO! Of course. Ammunition. A set of rounds for a gun. It fit perfectly with the crossing letters that were giving “BOUT” such a hard time. Felt a bit silly for not thinking of it sooner, especially with that ‘A’ staring me in the face. It’s one of those classic crossword answers you see pop up now and then.
Filled it in firmly this time. The rest of that corner of the puzzle fell into place pretty quickly after that. Just goes to show, sometimes the most obvious answer takes a little detour to find. Another day, another crossword puzzle solved. Always a good feeling.
