Okay, so check it out, the other day I was chilling, right? And I decided, hey, let’s do a crossword puzzle. I’m usually pretty good at ’em, but this one clue, man, it had me stumped. It was “influence” and I was like, “Come on, that could be anything!”
My First Brainstorm:
- First thing I did was just stare at it. Seriously, just blankly stared.
- Then I thought, okay, think synonyms. What’s another word for influence?
- I started listing stuff out loud, which my cat totally judged me for. “Affect”? Nah, wrong number of letters. “Impact”? Nope. “Sway”? Getting closer…
The Internet Dive:
So, I gave in. I’m not gonna lie, I hit up Google. I typed in “synonyms for influence crossword clue”. And bam, a bunch of crossword helper sites popped up.
Trying the Obvious:
A few sites suggested “EXERT”. I thought, “Okay, makes sense.” I plugged it in… and it was wrong! Other letters didn’t match up. Ugh.
Thinking Outside the Box (Sort Of):
Then, I thought about the context of the crossword. Was there a theme? Were there any other clues that might give me a hint? Nope, nothing obvious.
The “Aha!” Moment (Finally!):
Went back to the synonym route, but this time I tried thinking about the way someone might influence something. And then it hit me: “AFFECT!”
I plugged it in, and all the letters clicked into place. Victory!
Lesson Learned:
Man, sometimes the answer is staring you right in the face. Don’t overthink it. And hey, Google is your friend… but try to solve it yourself first, you know? Feels way better.
