Okay, so I’ve been seeing this phrase “that makes sense” pop up a lot in the NYT crossword puzzle lately. And it’s been bugging me because, you know, sometimes the answers just don’t click right away. So, I decided to dig into it a bit and see what’s what.
First thing I did was just straight-up look at a bunch of recent puzzles. I mean, I grabbed a stack of newspapers and just started flipping through the crossword sections. I noticed that “that makes sense” has shown up like nine times already. Nine times! That’s a lot for one clue.
Then, I started looking at the answers they used. It’s not always the same, which is kind of the tricky part. Sometimes it’s a four-letter word, other times it could be longer. There are apparently three different answers in total that they use for this clue, which makes things even more interesting, and also more confusing when you’re trying to solve the puzzle at 7 AM with your coffee.
I even saw one time, back in December, where they added “now” to the end of the clue, making it “That makes sense now.” That was a little curveball. But it gave me a bit of a hint that the answers might be related to understanding something, like finally getting a joke or figuring something out after thinking about it for a while.
Here’s what I started to do next:
- Noticed the dates. I started keeping track of the dates when this clue popped up. Like, I saw it on November 14th, then again on April 8th, and even on January 17th. Just kinda jotted them down to see if there was any kind of pattern.
- Checked for multiple answers. I realized that sometimes they want you to put more than one letter in a single square. They call them “Rebus Answers”. Usually, they do that on Thursdays or Sundays, so that’s something to watch out for if you’re tackling the puzzle on those days.
- Gathered all the answers. I started making a list of all the answers I could find. It’s like collecting clues in a detective story. I figured the more answers I had, the better chance I’d have of figuring out the puzzle faster next time.
So yeah, that’s my little adventure with the “that makes sense” clue. It’s been a bit of a head-scratcher, but also kind of fun to try and crack the code. Now, whenever I see that clue, I have a little system, and it is not as intimidating anymore. I feel like I am getting the hang of this NYT crossword thing, one clue at a time. It is satisfying to get better at something, even something as trivial as solving a crossword, you know?
