Okay, so, I’ve been trying to get better at crosswords, specifically the New York Times ones, and this morning I came across a clue that really got me thinking: “inner strength.” It wasn’t the first time I saw this clue. It got me going down a rabbit hole. Here’s how it went:
I grabbed my phone and opened up the NYT Crossword app as usual. I started with the Monday puzzle because, let’s be real, those are the easiest, and I need all the wins I can get. I breezed through most of it, feeling pretty good, but then I hit a wall.
There it was, a six-letter word for “inner strength.” I tried a few things that came to mind, but nothing fit. Feeling a bit stuck, I decided to look back at some older puzzles, you know, just to see if I could spot any patterns or get some inspiration. It was a while and browsed around for a bit, I found an older article, it mentioned that the answer for “Inner strength, so to speak” is “FIBER”, which appeared on June 15, 2024. And then I saw another clue of “Find Inner Strength”, which appeared on July 10, 2021, and June 16.
So I typed in “FIBER,” and boom, it worked! I felt a little jolt of excitement, even though, yeah, I kind of cheated. But hey, it’s all part of the learning process, right?
- I spent a good chunk of my morning on this, probably way more time than I should have.
- I realized that the difficulty of these puzzles ramps up as the week goes on.
- I learned that the Sunday crossword is like a whole different beast.
After I finally solved it, I started thinking about how much time I actually spend on these things. I even found some stats online that said the average finish time for a puzzle is a little over nine minutes. I’m definitely not there yet. I mean, I spent the time of walking between a capital city founded in 1050 (OSLO) and a WWI battle locale (YSER) on it!
But the whole “inner strength” thing stuck with me. It’s not just about the word itself, but also about the persistence it takes to keep trying, even when you’re stumped. I guess that’s kind of the point, huh? It’s like building up your mental muscle or something. Anyway, that’s my little crossword adventure for today. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be a little faster, a little smarter. Who knows?
Conclusion
This whole experience taught me that getting better at crosswords is really just about showing up and doing them regularly. It’s about getting familiar with the style and the clues. And honestly, it’s kind of fun, even when it’s frustrating.
