Alright, let me tell you about my tussle with the New York Times crossword today. It’s become a bit of a ritual, you know? Grab my coffee, sit down, and try to wrestle the grid into submission. Some days it flows, other days… well, today was one of the other days.
Started off pretty standard. Flew through some of the shorter clues, especially up in the northwest corner. Felt that familiar little buzz, like, “Yeah, I still got it.” Filled in a few gimmes here and there, built up a bit of confidence. You always need that early momentum, I find.
Hitting the Wall
Then, bam. Hit a wall right in the middle section. There was this one long answer, spanning across a good chunk of the puzzle. The clue was something like, “Polite way to decline seconds,” or maybe “Response when offered more pie.” Something along those lines. My mind just went blank. Seriously, nothing.
I had a few crossing letters, maybe an ‘N’ here, an ‘E’ there. It looked something like N O N E _ _ R _ E _ H A N K S. I tried fitting words in. “None more…”? Nope. “None for me…”? Maybe? The ‘thanks’ part seemed likely given the clue, but connecting it all felt impossible.
Getting Stuck and Unstuck
I did what I usually do when I’m properly stuck:
- Stared blankly at the grid for a solid five minutes.
- Double-checked the crossing clues (didn’t help much).
- Got up, walked around, maybe refilled the coffee.
- Came back and stared some more.
It’s funny how sometimes you just need to step away. Came back, looked at those letters again: N O N E _ O R M E T H A N K S. And then it just… clicked. Like a switch flipped. NONE FOR ME THANKS. Of course! It fit perfectly.
The Aftermath
Man, the relief. Filling in those letters felt good. It’s kind of a silly phrase when you think about it, so formal yet so common. I probably say some version of it myself a dozen times a week, trying not to offend when someone offers me something I don’t fancy. Seeing it spelled out like that, taking up prime real estate in the grid, felt strangely satisfying.
Getting that long one unlocked a bunch of the crossing down clues, and the rest of the puzzle fell into place pretty quickly after that. Wasn’t my fastest time, not by a long shot, but cracking that specific clue felt like the real victory today. Sometimes it’s not about finishing fast, but about overcoming that one tricky bit that really tests you. Yeah, none for me thanks… until the next puzzle, anyway.
