Okay, so I sat down to tackle the NYT crossword earlier today. Always like to see if I can get it done before lunch.
Things were moving along alright, got a few of the longer answers filled in, feeling pretty good about myself, you know?
Stumbling on a Clue
Then I came across this clue: first nations group. Hmm. Alright. My mind started flipping through possibilities. There are quite a few, obviously. Was it going to be something common, or one of the less frequent ones?
First thing I did was check the length. Looked like a four-letter word. Okay, that narrows it down a bit. Then I looked at the letters I already had in place from the crossing words.
- The first letter was a C.
- The second letter was blank.
- The third letter was an E.
- The last letter was also an E.
So I had C _ E E staring back at me.
Figuring it Out
Seeing C _ E E made it click almost immediately. That pattern, especially for a clue about indigenous peoples in North America, usually points to one answer in Crosswordland.
CREE. Yeah, that had to be it. It fit perfectly with the letters I had and it’s a super common answer for that kind of clue in the NYT puzzle. Felt pretty confident about that one.
So, I just went ahead and wrote CREE into the grid. Always satisfying when the crossing letters confirm your guess like that.
Moving On
Once that was in, it helped open up that little section of the puzzle a bit more. Filled in the word crossing it, and just kept chugging along from there. Just another step completed in getting the grid filled!
