Okay, so today’s crossword puzzle in the New York Times, man, it had me scratching my head for a bit. The clue was “gets in line,” and I was totally stumped. I mean, I went through all the usual suspects in my head.
First, I tried fitting in words like “queues” or “waits,” you know, the obvious stuff. But nope, those didn’t fit at all. Tried “joins” and other words like that too, and still had no luck. I scribbled them down on the margins of the paper, hoping maybe seeing them would spark something.
- QUEUES
- WAITS
- JOINS
- STANDS
- FORMS
Here’s a list of what I tried:
Nothing worked. I started to think maybe it was some kind of weird, multi-word phrase, but that didn’t seem right for the Times. They usually keep it pretty straightforward, at least for the early-week puzzles.
Then, I decided to take a break. I got up, walked around the room, refilled my coffee. Sometimes you just need to step away for a minute, you know? When I came back, I looked at the puzzle with fresh eyes.
And that’s when it hit me! The answer wasn’t about physically getting in a line. It was about “aligning” something. So the answer was “ALIGNS.” Six letters, perfect fit! I filled it in, and it unlocked a couple of other answers, and I was back in business.
It’s funny how the brain works sometimes. You can stare at something for ages and not see the obvious. But yeah, “ALIGNS” was the key today. Felt pretty good to finally crack that one.
