Okay, so today I tackled this crossword puzzle, the one called “ticked off crossword”. Found it in the usual spot, folded the paper just right, you know how it is. Got my coffee ready.
First Glance and Getting Started
Right off the bat, the title made me think, “Alright, what’s this gonna be? Annoying clues? Or maybe stuff about checking boxes?” Always gotta guess the theme, helps sometimes. I grabbed my trusty pen – yeah, I still use pen, makes it feel final.
I started scanning the Across clues first. Always do. Look for the low-hanging fruit, the fill-in-the-blanks or the super obvious ones. Got 1-Across pretty quick, something simple like “Not off” which was ON. Then maybe 5-Across, “Opposite of fast,” obviously SLOW. Built a little confidence there.
Hitting the Theme Clues
Then I hit some that seemed linked to that “ticked off” idea. There was one like “Really annoyed state”. Took me a minute, had to get a couple crossing letters, but then I saw it – IRATE. Okay, makes sense. Then another, maybe “Checked the item as complete”. I thought maybe MARKED? No, didn’t fit. Looked at the letters I had… ah, it was something like TASK DONE or similar, playing on the other meaning.
Had to switch over to the Down clues to get more traction. It’s like building a scaffold, you know? Fill in what you can, and it helps you reach the higher bits. Got a few more easy ones down there. Standard stuff, abbreviations, maybe a state capital.
Working Through the Tough Spots
There was this one section, the bottom right corner, that was giving me grief. Just couldn’t see how the clues fit together. One clue was something like “What makes you mad”. I was stuck thinking of specific things. Took a sip of coffee, stared out the window for a bit. Sometimes you just gotta reset the brain.
Came back to it. Looked at the letters I did have. _ N _ E R. Hmm. Could it be ANGER? Yeah, that fit the crossing clue too. Bingo. Once that fell, the rest of the corner started making sense. The answers started clicking into place.
- Found a clue like “Grinding one’s teeth, maybe”. That turned out to be RAGE.
- Another was “Mark on a checklist”. That was just TICK. Simple, but fit the theme again.
- Had to guess a bit on a longer one, something like “Common annoyance”. Put in PET PEEVE and luckily the crossing letters confirmed it later.
Finishing Up
The last few squares are always satisfying. Went back over the whole grid, made sure everything looked right. No weird letter combinations. The theme was definitely a mix – words about being angry or irritated, and words about checking things off. Pretty clever, actually, kept me guessing which meaning they were going for on some clues.
Overall, it wasn’t the hardest puzzle I’ve ever done, but it put up a decent fight. That “ticked off” theme was handled well. Felt good to finish it, fill that grid completely. Another puzzle done and dusted. Good way to spend half an hour or so. Now, what to do next… maybe another coffee.
