There are some crossword clues that feel less like a challenge and more like an invitation. They don’t just ask for a word; they ask you to open a door in your mind and take a look around. That was my experience this morning, pen hovering over the fresh grid, when I landed on this particular gem: “Ring in many Renaissance paintings.”
My mind, as a solver’s mind often does, immediately jumped to the most literal interpretation. A ring. Jewelry. I started taking a mental stroll through the Uffizi Gallery, flipping through art history textbooks in my head. Was there a famous betrothal scene I was forgetting? Did Botticelli’s Venus have a subtle ring on her finger that I’d never noticed? I pictured the grand portraits of dukes and duchesses, their hands heavy with gold and jewels, a testament to their wealth and status. It felt like a plausible path. The cluing seemed to point toward a specific, tangible object you could find if you just looked closely enough at the masterpieces of the era.
But the grid, as it so often does, had other ideas. The letters I had from the intersecting across clues just wouldn’t cooperate. A pesky “L” here, a confident “A” there—they stood their ground, refusing to make way for the words my “jewelry” theory required. This is the beautiful, silent conversation a solver has with the puzzle. The grid gently tells you when you’ve taken a wrong turn. A good crossword clue rarely lies, but it almost always offers a path of misdirection, and I had wandered down it with delight.
So, I backed up. I re-read the clue, letting each word land with its own weight. “Ring
in
many Renaissance paintings.” The preposition was key. Not “ring
on
a finger,” or “ring
worn
by,” but
in
. This suggested something more integral to the composition, something that wasn’t just an accessory but a feature of the scene itself.
The word “ring” began to shed its material form. It was no longer a band of metal. It became a shape, a concept. A circle. A glowing circumference. And then, the second half of the crossword clue clicked into place with the force of a thunderclap. “Renaissance paintings.” Suddenly, I wasn’t looking at the hands of the subjects anymore. I was looking above their heads.
The image that flooded my mind was immediate and clear—a feature so common in the art of that period that it’s almost synonymous with it. It was a ring of light, a symbol of divinity and grace, rendered in gold leaf and ethereal paint. It was the perfect, elegant answer the puzzle was waiting for. The letters I had suddenly made perfect sense, and with a satisfying scratch of ink, the word slid into its place, unlocking the rest of that corner of the grid. It was a beautiful piece of cluing, a reminder that the best crossword clues don’t just test your vocabulary; they test your ability to see the world, and art, from a different perspective.
Available Answers:
HALO.
Last seen on the crossword puzzle: 1114-25 NY Times Crossword 14 Nov 25, Friday