Alright, let’s talk about today’s little project. It was one of those mornings, needed something to get the brain working besides the usual coffee. Grabbed the newspaper crossword – yeah, I still do the paper ones sometimes, feels different, you know?
So I’m cruising along, getting some of the easy three-letter words, feeling pretty good. Then I land on this clue: Padres slugger Juan. Four letters. My mind immediately went blank for a second. Baseball season’s going, but I haven’t been following super close this year. Padres… slugger… Juan…
Wait, Juan Soto! Of course. He’s been all over the news, especially after that big trade. It clicked pretty fast once I stopped overthinking it. S-O-T-O. Fit perfectly. Felt a little jolt of satisfaction, like finding a piece that just snaps into place.
After that, things started flowing a bit better. It wasn’t a baseball-themed puzzle entirely, which was probably good for me. Had some tricky bits though:
- There was one about an old movie director I just couldn’t dredge up. Had to leave it blank for ages.
- Another one was some obscure geographical term. Why do they do that?
- The down clues crossing Soto were straightforward enough, thankfully. Didn’t mess up that corner.
Working Through It
I chipped away at it during breaks. Filled in a word here, another there. Sometimes you just gotta step away and come back, look at it fresh. That obscure director? Came to me while I was making lunch. Funny how brains work.
The clue about Juan Soto was definitely one of the anchors for me in that section. Getting a key name like that often unlocks a whole bunch of crossing words. It’s like a little reward system built into the grid.
Finished the whole thing eventually. Took longer than I’d like to admit, but hey, it’s done. There’s just something satisfying about seeing all those little white squares filled in correctly. Even if one or two required a bit of inspired guessing towards the end.
So yeah, that was my little adventure with the crossword today. Started with that Padres slugger Juan clue and worked my way out. A good way to spend some quiet time, keeps the mind sharp, or at least tries to. Now, what to tackle next?
