Okay, so the other day I was totally stumped by the New York Times crossword. I mean, I usually get a decent chunk of it done, but this one clue had me completely blank. “Bread spread,” it said. Five letters. My mind was racing through all sorts of possibilities – butter, jam, jelly, even some weird artisanal stuff I’ve seen at the farmer’s market.
I started by trying to think of the most common spreads. You know, the everyday stuff you’d find in anyone’s fridge. Nope, nothing fit. Then I went down the rabbit hole of more obscure spreads. I was picturing myself in the fancy cheese section of the grocery store, staring at labels I couldn’t even pronounce. Still nothing!
I even tried entering a few random letters into one of those crossword solver websites, hoping it would magically give me the answer. That didn’t work. I must use a wrong word. Then, I decided to leave it for some while.
I took a break, walked away from the crossword, and made myself a cup of tea. And that’s when it hit me, like a bolt of lightning! While I was stirring my tea, a simple answer popped into my head. It was one of those “duh!” moments where you feel kind of silly for not seeing it sooner.
The Aha! Moment
- I had my tea.
- I thought about something else.
- The word just comes up.
The answer, my friends, was “MAYOS”. Five letters, a perfect fit! I slapped myself on the forehead (figuratively, of course) and filled in the squares.
It is a good feeling when you finish the puzzle!
