Alright, let me tell you about this crossword I tackled recently. Someone called it the ‘hell crossword’, and honestly, they weren’t far off.
So, I printed it out, sat down with my coffee, ready to go. First glance, okay, standard grid, lots of clues. Felt that usual little buzz you get before starting one. I always scan the ‘Across’ clues first, looking for anything obvious, you know, the easy short ones just to get some letters on the board. Got a couple right off the bat, felt pretty good about myself for a minute.
Then things got sticky. Real sticky. Moved onto the ‘Down’ clues, and it was like hitting a brick wall. These weren’t your typical Tuesday puzzle clues, no sir. Very obscure stuff, weird wordplay I wasn’t getting immediately. Spent a good twenty minutes just staring at the grid, trying to force connections that weren’t there. My initial confidence started to, uh, evaporate.
I decided to focus on one corner. Thought maybe if I could just crack one section, the rest would follow. Picked the top left. Worked on it, erased, worked on it some more. Got maybe two answers that felt right, but they didn’t help much with the crossing words. It was frustrating, really testing my patience. Had to put the pen down and walk away for a bit. Made another coffee.
Came back with fresh eyes, which sometimes helps. Looked at 17 Down again. The clue was something tricky, a real head-scratcher. Suddenly, a word popped into my head. Didn’t seem right at first, too weird. But I penciled it in anyway. And wouldn’t you know it, the letters actually started making sense with the ‘Across’ clues I was stuck on! That was a breakthrough moment, felt like finding an oasis in a desert.
That little victory gave me a second wind. Started chipping away again, clue by clue. It was slow going. Some answers required serious thought, dredging up half-forgotten facts or playing around with anagrams in my head until something clicked. There were definitely a few where I just had to make an educated guess based on the letters I had and hope for the best. You do what you gotta do, right?
This thing took way longer than I expected. Went through phases: intense focus, total frustration, moments of clarity, and periods where I just put random letters in squares hoping for divine intervention. The middle section was particularly brutal. A real knot of interlocking answers that took ages to untangle.
Eventually, though, I started seeing the finish line. Just a few empty squares left. The last few clues were still tough, naturally, but having most of the grid filled helped immensely. Cross-checking letters, sounding out partial words. And then, finally, penned in the last letter. Done.
Sat back and looked at the completed grid. Felt exhausted, honestly. But also pretty satisfied. It lived up to its name, that crossword. A proper challenge. Glad I stuck with it, even when I wanted to crumple it up.
