Okay, so I was stumped by this crossword clue, “follow as a lead,” in the New York Times puzzle. It kept bugging me, so I decided to really dig in and figure it out.
First, I grabbed my phone and opened up the NYT Crossword app. Yeah, I’m a subscriber – gotta get my daily puzzle fix! I stared at the clue again, “follow as a lead.” My brain was blank. Totally blank.
Then, I started thinking about the different ways “follow” could be used. Like, “follow a recipe”? Nope, that didn’t seem right. “Follow a path”? Still no good.
I decided to get some coffee and give that a shot.
Brute-Forcing My Brain
I grabbed the physical newspaper too, just in case looking at it on paper would help. Sometimes switching things up can spark an idea, you know?
I started looking at the crossing words, the letters I already had filled in. Maybe they could offer a hint. There was an “E” and “Y”. Hmm…
Suddenly, it clicked! “Follow as a lead”… like in a detective story! “Follow a lead” means to investigate a clue! So, I typed in “OBEY”, and it fit perferctly!
- Tried thinking about different meanings of “follow.”
- Looked at the crossing letters for hints.
- Realized “follow a lead” is a detective phrase.
- Typed “OBEY.” and it fit perfectly.
It felt so good to finally crack that clue. Sometimes you just gotta keep at it, try different angles, and eventually, the answer pops into your head. Now, onto the rest of the puzzle!
