Alright, so today I tackled the New York Times crossword. Saw the title clue, ‘it starts with janeiro’. My first thought was, okay, Brazil? Rio? Something about beginnings maybe, since January kicks off the year?
Anyway, I grabbed my usual cup of coffee and sat down to get started. Like always, I scanned for the clues I knew right away. Knocked out a few of the shorter ones, mostly in the corners. Felt good, getting a foothold.
Getting into it
The top section filled in reasonably quick. But then things started getting a bit sticky towards the middle. I could feel there was a theme going on, but I hadn’t quite grasped it yet. Some answers felt a bit… off, somehow. Like they were related, but I couldn’t see how.
I kept going back to that ‘Janeiro’ hint. January. Beginnings. Firsts. Was it about things that start with ‘Jan’? Or maybe concepts related to starting?
- One clue seemed really obscure until I thought about the ‘start’ idea.
- Another one used wordplay that only made sense if you connected it back to the beginning theme.
- There was this one section, I think in the southeast, that completely stumped me for a good ten minutes.
Then it hit me. It wasn’t just literal January, but the concept of starting, linked to things associated with January or beginnings. It was kinda clever, actually. Once I saw that pattern, the answers that seemed weird before suddenly made perfect sense.
Wrapping Up
After that ‘aha!’ moment, the rest of the puzzle fell into place much faster. I had to work through a couple more tricky spots, rereading clues with the theme in mind. Sometimes you just gotta look at it from a different angle, you know?
Filled in the last square. Always a satisfying feeling. It wasn’t the hardest puzzle ever, but the theme definitely made me think. It’s fun when they do stuff like that, makes you work for it a bit more than just knowing random trivia. Just another crossword puzzle solved, another morning ritual done.
