Okay, so I was totally stumped by this crossword clue today: “Frost.” It was just five letters, and I was drawing a complete blank. I mean, I knew it was something to do with cold weather, obviously, but my brain just wasn’t cooperating.
First, I tried to think of different words for frost. You know, like “rime” or “hoar”… but nothing was fitting. I even googled “types of frost” to see if anything would jog my memory. I got a bunch of scientific stuff about “advection frost” and “radiation frost” – way too complicated for my crossword!
Then, I started thinking about things associated with frost. Like, winter, Jack Frost, maybe even a frosty beverage? Still nothing. I considered cheating and looking it up directly, but I’m stubborn, I wanted to get it myself.
I decided to work on some other clues, hoping that getting some crossing letters would help. After a while, I had a few more letters filled in. Now the “Frost” clue looked like this: “_ N I C _”.
And then, it hit me! It wasn’t a type of frost, it was a name. I remembered that old poem, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas: “He had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.”
- The relevant part! “He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,”
I filled in the answer: “N I C K S”. Saint Nicks! I felt so silly for not getting it sooner, but also super satisfied that I finally cracked it.
It can alway be “R I M E S”, After filling it, I checked all of the answers to make sure that “R I M E S” is correct.
Moral of the story?
Sometimes you just need to step away from a problem for a bit and come back to it with fresh eyes. And don’t be afraid to think outside the box – the answer might be simpler than you think!
