Okay, so I sat down with my usual morning coffee and the newspaper crossword today. I like doing these, keeps the mind ticking over, you know?
Tackling the Grid
I was moving along pretty well, got a few of the across clues sorted, filled in some downs. Then I hit this one: 1998 Masters champion. It was looking for a last name, I think, maybe 6 letters, starting with O? Or perhaps it was the first name, 4 letters? The grid wasn’t super clear yet around it.
So, I stopped and thought. 1998… Masters… My first thought went to Tiger Woods, obviously, but no, he won in ’97 and then again later. Faldo? Nope, earlier. Jack Nicklaus? Way earlier.
I stared at the empty squares. 1998. It felt familiar, like I should know it. I pictured the green jacket ceremony in my head. Who was getting it? It wasn’t one of the really huge, dominant names from that exact period, maybe?
The Memory Click
Then it kind of clicked. Wasn’t 1998 the year someone had a really great run, won two majors? Yeah… I remember thinking that was quite something. A bit older guy, maybe? Friend of Tiger’s? The name started floating up… Mark. Yes, Mark something.
Mark… Mark… O’… O’Meara! That was it! Mark O’Meara. He won the Masters and The Open Championship that year. Solid player.
So I checked the letters I already had in the grid crossing that clue. Let’s say it was for the last name, 6 letters. _ M E A _ A. Yeah, that fits perfectly. O’Meara.
- O
- M
- E
- A
- R
- A
I carefully penciled it in. Felt good to crack that one. It wasn’t immediately obvious, took a bit of digging through the memory banks. Sometimes the sports clues can be tricky if it wasn’t a super famous year or player, but O’Meara’s double major year stuck with me, turns out.
Anyway, that unlocked a whole section of the puzzle, so I carried on from there. Just another little victory in the daily crossword battle!
