Alright, sat down earlier today to work through a crossword puzzle. The theme was apparently ‘diet heavy on the meats’, which sounded kinda interesting, maybe a bit different from the usual themes you see.
So, I got my coffee, found my favorite pencil – the one with the decent eraser – and just started scanning the clues, you know, looking for the easy ones first. The across clues seemed like a good place to start. Found a few gimmes right away, like ‘Opposite of fast’ for SLOW, stuff like that. Always feels good to get some letters on the grid early on.
Then I started hitting the theme clues. One was something like ‘Popular low-carb plan, sounds like a name’. Took me a second, then ATKINS popped into my head. Penciled that in. Another one asked for a ‘Caveman’s eating style’, which had to be PALEO. That fit nicely with some letters I already had.
Getting into the Meaty Part
It wasn’t all super obvious, though. There was one clue, ‘Prized cut from the tenderloin’. My mind went blank for a bit. Was it filet? No, didn’t fit the squares. I looked at the crossing letters I had… F _ _ E T M _ _ _ O N. Ah! FILET MIGNON! Felt a bit silly missing that one initially.
There were others popping up related to the theme:
- ‘Breakfast sizzler strips’ – easy enough, BACON.
- ‘Big slab for grilling’ – definitely STEAK.
- ‘German sausage type’ – Needed a crosser for this, but eventually got BRATWURST.
Some non-theme clues were tricky because they crossed multiple meat words. Had one like ‘Ancient Roman garment’ crossing through PALEO. That was TOGA, thankfully short and simple.
Hitting a Wall and Finishing Up
Got stuck proper in the bottom right corner for a while. Just couldn’t see the answers. One clue was about a specific type of cured ham, maybe Italian? The letters I had weren’t helping much. I put the puzzle down for a minute, walked away, grabbed more coffee. Sometimes that little break helps shake things loose.
Came back, looked at it fresh. The ham clue… P _ O S _ _ U _ T O. Okay, yeah, PROSCIUTTO! Once I got that, the other crossing words fell into place pretty quick. There was this satisfying feeling as I filled in the last few squares. Looked over the whole grid, everything seemed to fit.
Overall, it was a decent way to spend an hour or so. The theme made it kinda fun, trying to think of all the different meat-related terms. Some clues were tough, others were straightforward. Just a typical crossword experience, really, but finishing it always gives that little sense of accomplishment. Felt good to get it done.
