Okay, so, I’ve been tackling these New York Times crosswords lately, and let me tell you, some of these clues are real head-scratchers. I was working on one recently, specifically the puzzle from August 5th or 6th, I think, and I came across this one clue that had me stumped for a good while: “Ending with play or plate.”
I stared at it, I racked my brain, I tried a few things that didn’t fit. Nothing was clicking. So, I thought, “Alright, let’s try a different approach.” I started looking online, just to see if anyone else had struggled with this one.
Turns out, plenty of folks were in the same boat. I found a bunch of different websites and forums where people were discussing crossword clues, and this one was definitely a popular topic. Some sites were listing possible answers, others were just general discussions. It was a bit of a mixed bag, but it gave me a few different angles to consider.
- One site straight up said the answer was LET. Sounded simple enough, but I wasn’t totally convinced.
- Another mentioned something about “Tennis call” and “Spill” as related clues, which made my head spin even more. What did tennis have to do with “play” or “plate”?
- I read a note about rebus puzzles where you sometimes have to fit multiple letters into one square, but that didn’t seem to apply here, it is too complicated to me.
After digging around some more, and checking a few different sources, it started to become clearer. The “LET” answer kept popping up, and it actually made sense. You can have “playlet” and “platelet”. That was the “aha!” moment. It was a short word, just three letters, but it was hiding in plain sight all along.
The whole process was a bit of a rollercoaster, going from confused to curious to determined, and finally to that sweet feeling of satisfaction when you finally crack the code. And that’s what I love about these crosswords. They challenge you, they frustrate you, but they also give you that little burst of joy when you solve them. This “Ending with play or plate” clue was a tough one, but I got it in the end, and that’s what counts.
