getting good at crossword

I am trying to get “good” at crossword. A sure shot way of starting to do this is to do the crossword everyday. But one would get discouraged, wouldn’t one? looking at a lot of unfilled squares, a reflection into one’s deeply unfulfilled life (mental note: stop getting personal in the blogs!).

Right now, I can do the monday crosswords with the confidence of an 8 year old who just mastered the multiplication tables and put himself on a time machine ride to have a wink at Ramanujan. But not everyone can get the proofs spelled out by God like Ramanujan did. All of us ‘Hardy’ boys (it’s a pun) have to do it the hard way. Although sometimes, words I stored in the deep and dark ravines of my memory tend to harken back to me at the most unexpected moments. Like the word ‘harken’ just harkened. Maybe, I AM special. Though I wouldn’t put a lot of money on that. But I diverge.

The Actual Post

I am super good at crosswords from my own country. But my US crossword skills sure need some honing. (owning-honing ;) First, I don’t understand the crossword makers’ fetish with the Great Lakes and the Rivers. No actually, I do. The names themselves are enough to tickle my oratorical neurons. Rivers Missouri and Mississippi, that scrounge silently through the great plains. Lake Ontario. Lake Erie. All these are wonderfully named water bodies. Not to mention of “The Atlantic” or “The Pacific”. Don’t the names just fill you with endorphins? But yea, trivia about them are frequently used in Crosswords, so I might as well learn them. Just to engage myself. Not to score crossword points. ‘Cause I am not transactional, or so I like to say.

The Great Lakes of the USA

Here’s a nice picture to look at. Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie. I learned (and forgot) these names in my seventh grade social studies. I loved that subject but my teacher was very mid. So I blame them.

Trivia tidbits I boosted from my GenAI searches

• Many California cities begin with “San” or “Santa” because they were named after Catholic saints by Spanish colonists who established missions and settlements in the region. The Spanish were primarily Catholic, and they named many of their settlements after the saints they revered. For example, San Diego is named after Saint Didacus of Alcalá, and Santa Barbara is named after Saint Barbara. It is so surreal that I gotta describe this. I got an internship and while I was trying to brush-up on my California geography, I observed that most of the city names started with “San” or “Saint”. I found it peculiar and googled the reason. IRONICALLY, this was a question in today’s crossword! If this was not a sign from the Universe to continue writing this blog, Idk what is! (Image attached)

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