Okay, let me tell you about this crossword clue I ran into the other day. It really had me scratching my head for a bit.
Tackling “my money would be”
So, I was working through the Saturday puzzle, you know, the one that’s supposed to be a bit tougher. Things were going okay, filling in bits here and there. Then I hit this one: “my money would be”. Four letters.
My first thought was, well, that’s not a complete sentence. “My money would be… where?” In the bank? Spent? Lost? None of those fit, and they weren’t four letters anyway. I looked at the crossing letters. I think I had the ‘B’ already, maybe the ‘T’? So something like `_ B _ T`. Still drawing a blank.
Getting Stuck and Thinking
I skipped it and worked on other clues around it, hoping that filling in more letters would give it away. Got a few more answers, but that clue still sat there, staring at me. I put the kettle on, made a cup of tea, thinking maybe stepping away for a second would help. Stared out the window a bit.
Came back to it. “My money would be…” I started saying the phrase out loud. What do people usually say? “My money would be on…” like when you’re making a guess or a prediction. Like, “My money would be on the red team winning.”
The Breakthrough
And then it clicked. The clue wasn’t asking for the whole phrase, just the action the phrase implies. If your money is on something, what are you doing?
- You’re making a guess.
- You’re taking a chance.
- You’re placing a… bet.
Figuring it Out
Bet. B-E-T. That’s only three letters. Hmm. Wait. What if the clue means “I would bet”? As in, “My money would be placed as a bet,” condensed down? Let’s try “I BET”. That’s four letters. `I B E T`. Did that fit the crossing letters I thought I had? Yeah, I think it did!
Pencilled it in. Felt pretty good about that one. It was one of those clues that seems obvious once you get it, but the wording just throws you off at first. You’re looking for something complicated, and it’s just hiding in plain sight within a common phrase. Always satisfying to finally crack those tricky ones.
